Dublin Castle Haiku

     

Once was Bram worked there

And Dennis O’Driscoll, too,

In Dublin Castle.

Veronica’s bust

Is in the Dubh Linn Gardens,

She’s a heroine.

The civil servants,

Pawns of the civil service,

Permeate the place.

International

Tourists come, so keen to see

Art and history.

Well spent time in the

Chester Beatty Library

Satisfies their need.

Or perhaps a trip

To the great State Apartments

Where the Crown once sat.

Spooks are said to stalk

Cross Block’s draughty corridors.

Don’t walk there alone.

The Stamping Building

Put up in seventy-four

Has its own strange charm.

In the lower yard

Cars are still allowed to park.

Not for much longer.

In the summer air

Every bench is sat upon.

A man must be quick.

Or a woman too.

The finest girls in Ireland

Now and then pass through.

Enter by Ship Street

See what was once a barracks,

Tortured ghosts still haunt.

A tourist party

Will often stop to hear tales

From a chatty guide.

Its own unique world

Is that place Dublin Castle

Of bricks and people.

You’ve got to see it

At least one time in your life

To know what I mean.

                                  © Brian Ahern 2014