Savings

 Expensive savings 

Lily and Kevin worked hard

And so when it came to choosing

A seminary to enter

I chose the cheaper. 

Aged barely eighteen

I really meant well

My head turned by the glamour

Of a brand new Mexican order. 

Wiser heads would have counseled 

To stay with the college

I had signed up for at Easter

In neighboring Kimmage. 

The Holy Ghost Fathers 

Were a much better bet

Than a young Congregation

Making it up on the trot. 

Eight long years later with 

Nothing to show

A few foreign languages  

Eight lost years somehow. 

And it’s fate that decided that

First I would work for Deminex

An oil firm exploring 

In Irish sea basins. 

I think it’s probable

In fact I’m certain

Had I  studied in Kimmage

I’d have traveled some day

To dark deepest Africa

To a country of light 

To teach kids in Nairobi 

And preach in the bush. 

Would I have stayed?

Would I have left?

Would my journey to God

Have taken a turn?

Hard to know now

Hard to know then 

What God has in store

Aged eight years and ten.