On this Saint Patrick's Day 2024, I offer words from two of Ireland's favorite poets and from one "want-to-be".
My love is in a light attire
My love is in a light attire
Among the apple-trees,
Where the gay winds do most desire
To run in companies.
There, where the gay winds stay to woo
The young leaves as they pass,
My love goes slowly, bending to
Her shadow on the grass;
And where the sky's a pale blue cup
Over the laughing land,
My love goes lightly, holding up
Her dress with dainty hand.
-James Joyce
Any Irish roots that may run back through my ancestry lead to (and before) William Patrick Justice.
William Patrick Justice
William Patrick Justice was born on 2 May 1858, and lived his entire life in two counties in Tennessee (Greene and Blount). He married Elizabeth A "Lizzie" Lowe on 9 January 1887, in Greene County. They were the parents of at least 5 sons: Ulysses Adrian Justice (1890-1952); Lawrence M. Justice (1893-1940); Henry C. Justice (1897-1947); Hubert G. Justice (1900-1990); Ivan W. Justice (1911-1963); and 3 daughters: Mollie Mae Justice (1888-1963); Lucy B. Justice (1895-1961); and Lula Justice (1908- deceased).
William Patrick died on 2 July 1943, in Maryville, Blount County, Tennessee at the age of 85. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Maryville, Tennessee.
William Patrick Justice was my maternal great-grandfather. His first son, Ulysses Adrian Justice, was my grandfather and his daughter, Dorsey Lou Justice Woliver, is my mother.
Dorsey Lou Justice walking with her dad Ulysses Adrian Justice
Dorsey Lou Justice Woliver on her 93 birthday (March 11, 2024)
Before The World Was Made
If I make the lashes dark
And the eyes more bright
And the lips more scarlet,
Or ask if all be right
From mirror after mirror,
No vanity's displayed:
I'm looking for the face I had
Before the world was made.
What if I look upon a man
As though on my beloved,
And my blood be cold the while
And my heart unmoved?
Why should he think me cruel
Or that he is betrayed?
I'd have him love the thing that was
Before the world was made.
-William Butler Yeats
Top o' the Morning to You!
My love went strollin’ so early,
O’er green, green grass a whirlin’.
Gay wind in her face,
Her hair all displaced,
My Cailin, she’s from O’Merry!
C.Patrick
On Saint Patrick’s Day 2024, I lift a toast to: my great-grandfather and his Irish name; my grandfather who died a month after I was born; to my dear Mother; to the great Irish poets whom I admire; and to all the gals who were and are their inspiration.
CPW
P.S. Words from Ulysses by Joyce, for Ulysses Adrian Justice:
“Can't bring back time. Like holding water in your hand.”
“Me. And me now.”