Kate from Kells

A will of steel and iron
Of soft and generous heart
Appropriate then perhaps
That she married Desmond Harte

Many decades to remember
As we mourned her last December
Kate the golfer, Kate the mother
Sister, friend, and life lover.

A gift for friendship
Not spread wide
But true and close
Right by our side.

Ever ready, ever true
To lend a hand
To me to you

Knitting, sewing, cooking, cleaning
Nothing ever too demeaning
Coming, going in her blue mini
Driving deftly as in a Porsche

Baby sitting, reading, teaching
Around her kitchen table
Tea in china cups
To the chime of carriage clocks.

In Marie's bungalow o'er the bay
A modest drink at close  of day
A  lively G and T at five
Helps the sisters to revive.

Ever ready, ever able
Just ring the phone
She'll never waver. .

Simple homely pleasures
Span the rolling years
Time sits still for decades
On sleepy Dalkey streets.

At last the call of time
Has Katie in her clutches
And so the days now shorten
As eventide drew nearer.

Never dim, but always bright
Her smile lights up our day
We knock, she turns
"Hello darling" I hear her say
Just as she peers in family photos
Her voice will echo through the ages.