This is a poem, written by Tom French, that was read by Conor Grimes at the funeral of Brian Faloon on 23rd March 2021.
The Capital of Peru
i.m. Brian ‘Munroe’ Faloon
‘Seven across. Four letters. Capital of Peru?’
You’ll be stuck on it now until Kingdom Come
or until someone who knows the answer comes
as you stand in the low bar like a great crow,
shoulder to shoulder with the greats you played,
trying to remember what you never knew
or the sound of a word you’ve always known
that’s easier than ‘Augherainey’ and ‘Annaghbeg’,
and easier than the name of the ref who said –
‘I have thirty lunatics here. I don’t need more’ –
when you came blazing to join the melée
and got shown red before landing a glove.
Now you escape us, let that name go too
into that blank space where the great names go.
The known lines come. Distant, in our midst,
your soft look takes all that you cherish in.
We will name that city, in your honour, ‘L-O-V-E’.
Tom French
