BRIDGIE After her two brothers died now alone, she spent time feeding hens, milking cows, cooking daily meals, enjoying listening to the radio, hearing news about other towns, other cities, other countries and the weather forecast. Quietly labouring in her garden, Bridgie planted a few green vegetables, onions and potatoes, making sweet tart with the blotchy red apples. She wore a round tam cap tightly covering her head her figure easily recognised walking to the local shop. A cross word never parted from her lips, she never gossipped, borrowed or stole, living contentedly in her home. Bridgie left us peacefully some years later, five people at her funeral, her passing not worth a mention, where no politicians appeared or no votes to be garnered. She needed no show offs or those rushing to be seen, Yet, it makes no difference, how our lives are lived, we all get buried in the same grey earth and cold clay. -- Mary Guckian, b. Co. Leitrim