My Grand dad

Grand dad Jack McKane
Belfast born
Its plain
a family man
And I’m a fan
And I had much to gain
My own father said I
Was the reason why
He was mad at me
And didnt want to be
Lumbered with a child
A girl too
Drove him wild
How fortunate I was to be
In such marvellous company

That was Jack Mckane
A saint in every way
He was like a dad to me
Every single day
A council house
Three bedrooms
Six kids and now me
His heart was big and pumping
Out love and constancy

He would give you
His last penny
Great integrity
High – principled
And philanthropic
And he was good to me
He loved to bet on horses
Studying their form
Full of Absolute genuiness
And always very warm

To me he really love my Nan
And when she passed away
It really struck him rigid
He cried a lot they say
For ages he played Boule
Mind you after his op
He found
He really had to give it up
It was harder to get off the ground

When he was younger he was fit
And laboured day and night
Working on the building
On the building site
Climbing up the ladders
Carrying hods of bricks
He really worked his socks off
And knocked himself for six

He had two other brothers
Billy worked at the Maze
Prison nigh on forty years
And the eldest Ernie
Pays his respects
He was a farmer
A dedicated guy
Putting in the hard graft too
Underneath the sky

In all some 17 Grand children
And, 11 Great
And to this day they visit
His family ties all rate
He loves a drop of alcohol
And any of us who go
And see him in his Martham Place
Take him off to show
Him a day having lunch and a beer
He is a jolly soul
Getting a bit past it now
But equal to the role

He tells us all his stories
The time he was a caddy
And drank out of a trophy cup
Bing Crosby won
A laddie
Then but really proud of that
A Leo typically
And although I was a cast off
He loved me constantly

Like many folk
He is inclined to watch
The BBC
All that Lefty nonsense
He takes in frantically
He is fearful of the Hong Kong Flu
And seemingly feels he
Has to remain on his own
Masked up and drinking tea

He will be alone this Christmas
But his stories keep him going
He knows that we all love him so
And in all of us its growing
And all of us feel real upset
We cannot go and see
The Grandfather who did everything
In the whole wide world for me.