FASTNET by Virginia Hainsworth

Farewell, my dear children.  Look at me one last time, then turn away and don’t look back.  Look out over the ocean and let your thoughts follow your gaze out towards the horizon.

If you could reach out and dip your hand into the deep waters which hold your future, you may find that your grasp will bring forth pearls.  Or your fingers may be bitten by the sharp crab claws of fate.  Or both.  I hope that whatever life has to show you, you will find, above all things, balance.  Balance in every aspect of your life.  It is the key to success and happiness.  I have not been able to achieve balance for myself.  I have emerald gowns aplenty, yet not enough food for you, my sons and daughters.

As I cast you out across the seas, I ask one thing of you.  Send your children back to me.  And your children’s children. Just let them stay with me for a while and I will return them to your adopted homeland.

So keep going, beyond Fastnet.  Keep looking ahead.  But remember me.  For I am Ireland and, although you have left me, I will never leave you.

Fastnet Rock gives its name to the shipping area.  It is a small islet in the Atlantic Ocean and the most southerly point of Ireland.  Due to its location, Fastnet is known as ‘Ireland’s Teardrop’ because it was the last part of Ireland that 19^th Century Irish emigrants saw as they sailed towards North America.