A lot of men in bare feet
with trouser legs rolled
up, shoes under the oxters
white handkerchief heads
with knots on each corner
paddling pebbled shallows.

Painful swelling in big toes
was what we were told it
cured, the holy sea, not far
from J.D. O'Mahony's where
the real anaesthetic numbed
by way of creamy Guinness.

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Ballybunion is a seaside resort
in County Kerry Ireland where
non swimming bachelor farmers
went in summer to paddle.