WATERFORD - BALLYLOUGHBOOKS - IRELAND

Extracts

 An extract from “Waterford People – A Biographical Dictionary of Waterford” by T. N. Fewer

Cooke, Hester (d. 1988) Poet. Daughter of a Canon Alfred H.Cooke, formerly rector at Carrick -on- Suir. She was devoted to her father, and when her mother died she stayed with him until he died in 1958. She wrote simple but evocative verse about the countryside and in particular, her native Waterford. She published three small volumes of poetry. A popular poem describes Portally, near Dunmore East;

Portally

"A small grey cove where white-edged waves are breaking,
The call of sea birds circling around the bay,
Tall cliffs where heather whispers in the breeze,
And sea-pinks grow between in bright array.

A place your heart must always brim with gladness,
For everything around so happy seems,
The kind of place where oft you've longed to wander,
And only hoped to find in dreams.

Oh, tired feet a-tramping city pavements,
Ah, weary hearts that find no rest each day,
Could you but know the peace and splendour,
Abiding now around Portally Bay. "