I sampled the sun and the rain of life,
I sifted the chaff from the grain of life,
I tested the joy and the pain of life,
The tear, the sigh and the song.

I weighed the crown and the cross of life
Against the gold and the dross of life;
I counted the profit and loss of life
In the battle of Right and Wrong.

I probed the soul and the heart of life;
I searched to the end from the start of life
I scrutinised every part of life
For the secret of life’s plan.

And love I found through the whole of life,
Is the real, ideal goal of life;
True love is the true soul of life –
As hate is the death of Man.

MICHAEL MULLIN, ‘The Bard of Foremass,
Foremass Lower, Sixmilecross, Co. Tyrone.