THE STRABANE GPO
Strabane a town in a valley down that nature seems to hide
As Knock A Voe and Croghan hills guarded on every side
You can hear the shiver of Mourne River that for long ages ran
Before the world was civilized or the birth of old Strabane
No tongue can tell, no pen can write, nor any voice of man
Describe the scenery that surrounds the valley of Strabane
Some of its famous buildings are famous far and wide
And daily through it thoroughfare the motor buses glide
It may not be much out of place though you may think it is a lie
The moon has trouble passing these buildings great and high
Some of these structures were built long long ago
The best and modern of them all is the famous G.P.O.
Once at the tower of Babel when still the world was young
Was first checked man’s ambition by confusion of his tongue
But here we built a Temple where man’s thoughts pass through to man
All by our honest labour at Castle Street Strabane
What are the ancient Pyramids, what but a hiding hole
Built by a nations labour for dead bones without a soul
What are Forts and Castles even of noblest plan?
Compared with what our toil has raised in Castle Street Strabane
The contractors are well known men and I’ll mention them by name
They were the brothers Collins and from Portadown they came
The foreman was Tracey a man you seldom find
His great and active brain soon finds the wisest plan
In solving crooked problems in Castle Street Strabane
His voice was like a Lion’s and his temper quick you see
And his presence ne’er was pleasant for big Johnny Goan and me
We were some of the willing boys and this he always new
The step of Goan was like my own, he was dodging Tracey too
Carlin was a soldier who fought the German foe
He little cared for Tracey when at the G.P.O.
Meehan Quinn and other lads laboured like a man
And showed that they were sons of toil in Castle Street Strabane
Milligan was the clerk of works a man of much renoun
Who spent a period of his life with the forces of the Crown
In the Donegal Artillery this man of talent rare
When the Union was flourishing he was a captain there
More worthy were the joiners for the splendid part they played
They showed they were masters of St. Joseph’s noble trade
Don’t think they were professionals brought from a foreign land
The both did hail from Main Street and Railway Street Strabane
The masons were skilled tradesmen as everyone should know
No man unskilled could ever build at this famous G.P.O.
O’ Connell was a Derry man with a reputation great
And the only man as good as he was found in the Free State
His name is Frank Mc Corkell and he is known to one and all
He lives near ancient Castlefin in County Donegal
The contractors are well known men and I’ll mention them by name
They were the brothers Collins and from Portadown they came
The foreman was Tracey a man you seldom find
His great and active brain soon finds the wisest plan
In solving crooked problems in Castle Street Strabane
His voice was like a Lion’s and his temper quick you see
And his presence ne’er was pleasant for big Johnny Goan and me
We were some of the willing boys and this he always new
The step of Goan was like my own, he was dodging Tracey too
Carlin was a soldier who fought the German foe
He little cared for Tracey when at the G.P.O.
Meehan Quinn and other lads laboured like a man
And showed that they were sons of toil in Castle Street Strabane
Milligan was the clerk of works a man of much renoun
Who spent a period of his life with the forces of the Crown
In the Donegal Artillery this man of talent rare
When the Union was flourishing he was a captain there
More worthy were the joiners for the splendid part they played
They showed they were masters of St. Joseph’s noble trade
Don’t think they were professionals brought from a foreign land
The both did hail from Main Street and Railway Street Strabane
The masons were skilled tradesmen as everyone should know
No man unskilled could ever build at this famous G.P.O.
O’ Connell was a Derry man with a reputation great
And the only man as good as he was found in the Free State
His name is Frank Mc Corkell and he is known to one and all
He lives near ancient Castlefin in County Donegal
Johnny Burns
Gemma Hill Writeyou Writeme 