from Garrrison Keillor's WRITERS ALMANAC
which the raccoon news receives daily by Email
The nursemaid Agnes Cassidy
A woman not much bigger
Than a child
The eldest of thirteen
Came straight from Donegal
One of her eyes
Was pulled askew
Mauled by the forceps
Of a country doctor
Who had been drinking
The night that she was born
But her small flat
Unlucky face
Bore marks
Of Celtic beauty
And she was strong
Her faith was silent
Sure
And passionate
She'd gladly walk
Ten miles
In any weather
For a taste of God
And when her mother died
In Ireland
And a fierce sense of duty
Was dragging her
Back to the farm in Donegal
To help her father
She wept at leaving
The little fiery boy
Whose nurse she'd been
Whom she had named
The Fighting Irishman
And whom she loved she said
As much as she loved anyone.
