Ode to Timothy Downing

The day I met fine Patrick Murphy

Priest be he of Rome.

He smiled broad and gestured warmly,

Boyo, you've come home.

Along the pastel homes of Sneem

I breathed deep memory.

Downings past were here it seems,

And one was Timothy.

What fateful turns and fears he knew

That led him far away

I'll never know, and neither he

That part returned one day;

That part he couldn't dream of then

Nor even hope to see,

That part of him that's me.

Shaun Timothy FitzPatrick.

Shaun Timothy FitzPatrick

Shaun's great-grandfather, Timothy Downing was born in Sneem in 1869.

Shaun returned to Sneem in 2001, where he visited his distant cousin, Father Patrick Murphy, who discovered Mr. Downing's baptismal records in his rectory.

Shaun is a career U.S. Marine and continues to travel the globe as his duties carry him. He hopes to visit Sneem again soon.