Liam O'Flynn, the well-known Uillean piper from Kildare who was a former member of the group Planxty has passed. Musician Randall Stephen Hall has written a tribute to Mr. O'Flynn:

Liam O’Flynn

By R. S. Hall. 14.3.18

Your pipes and their sound
Are the flapping swan’s wing
And the water lapping against the lake’s edge.

The hedge row and its blossom
The full bosomed clouds set free in spring.
For your sounds sing to me
Of friendship and brotherhood
And the sisters in the dark oak wood.

The pig and the boar
They score the tunes on your magic machine.
What ancient spell created such a thing?
Each note a hazel nut and a dark berry
Well found upon the branch and on the ground.

That dark throaty thing that calls
The bodhrán thumps and the music sings
Across the causeway, your stones well flung.
Cows in the pasture enriched with their swirly dung.
Hooves clattering, big hipped in full repose
Your music makes me rise and go.

My heart is caught upon this thorn
One Irish man, one sheep well shorn.
The bag from where the magic comes
Exudes a voice that cuts me down.
Could I resist the tunes you play
This past for me to not deny
But just embrace your land and air.
We’ll all meet up and see you there.