Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page

The lady or School Traffic Warden who sees children across the road as they leave school in Ireland is called 'the Lollipop Lady'. In other parts of the world they probably have different names.

In Douglas, Cork, Ireland, a popular 'Lollipop Lady' retired recently. One of the local pupils, twelve-year-old Samantha Doyle, wrote this poem as a tribute to her departing 'Friend'. We've previously had one of Samantha's poems 'My Dog Dot' in this column.

Samantha is a member of the Douglas Junior Writers. For a young girl who is not yet a teenager Samantha has a very promising amount of talent.

She has already amazed many of her contemporaries and even more adults by writing a book called 'Fantasy Island' a surreal tale about a secret island, where famous people go to get away from it all.

The book makes amusing and fascinating reading and let's hope it gets published sometime in the near future.

The lollipop lady

I was two when I first met you
I couldn't even tie my shoes
You were at the gate
With a smile on your face
And a giant lollipop stick

Every day you'd wait, at the school gate
Hail or snow, rain or shine
With a smile and a treat
To see us safely across she street

Ten long years have past
Oh they have gone so fast
You were there every day
Every step of the way

Now that I'm Twelve, and I'm ready to delve
Into life in secondary school l
I know that I'll miss a lot of things but
The person I'll miss most is you.

© Samantha Doyle