'There is a green Island in lone Gougane Barra <br />Where allua of songs rushes forth as an arrow <br />In deep valley'd Desmond a thousand wild fountains <br />Come down to that lake from their homes in the mountains. <br /> <br />From Gougane Barra by Jeremiah Joseph Callanan' <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Gougane Barra, The Outlaw of Lough Lene and The Convict of Clonmel three poetical gems from the ink of his pen <br />A poet from Cork in Southern Ireland one of Munster's great literary men <br />He translated Gaelic poems into English and as well he was an original poet <br />And he deserves to be remembered as one who is worthy of note. <br /> <br />He was more than a minor man of letters and far more than a man of rhyme <br />And he died young in Portugal where he went for the warmer clime <br />Far from the places in verse he had glorified his poems destined to live on <br />The words of the great poet remembered when most to posterity have gone. <br /> <br />Those who have not heard tell of Jeremiah Joseph Callanan of Irish literature little do know <br />He was one of Munster's great writers a couple of centuries ago <br />The wanderlust was in his young heart and the wanderlust carried him away <br />From the people and places he knew and loved his remains in Portugal lay. <br /> <br />I first read his poem Gougane Barra when I was a primary school going boy <br />His beautiful imagery and rhyming couplets to me remain a thing of joy <br />And though he died young in Portugal with just a few coins to his name <br />In his Homeland he is remembered in Ireland's literary Hall of Fame.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/jeremiah-joseph-callanan-1795-1829/
