I ran across some old picture files from a trip I took to England and Ireland back in 2003.  One of the highlight of that trip was visiting Blarney Castle.  It is the first medieval castle that I ever visited and it was fascinating to me.  I remember climbing the stone spiral stairs and feeling a bit claustrophobic in the tight space.  Most of the castle was in need of major repair, but it did give me a good idea of the living conditions in such a small stone keep.

Of course I could not visit Blarney Castle without kissing the Blarney Stone.  Well, I kissed what the attendants at the castle said was the Blarney Stone.  Irish legend says that a person who kisses the Blarney Stone receives the gift of gab.  Being a writer, I figured it couldn’t hurt.

Hanging upside-down wasn’t exciting, but the experience did inspire me to write my Invocation to the Blarney Stone:

If it were that with just one kiss,

I could be transformed by your cold gray lips.

Words come slow to one such as I,

but with your eloquence my verse could fly.

If I came to you, my soul laid bare,

would you be moved enough to share,

your gift of gab with a supplicant true,

So that I could become as famous as you?

I don’t think it worked.  Maybe I should have bought it a drink first.