Meeting at the Meeting of the Waters

 

Between Avoca and Glendalough is a tiny jewel of a park: the Meeting of the Waters. At this point, the River Avonbeg ("small river" in Gaelic) and the River Avonmore ("big river") join to form the River Avoca ("Avoca").

The meeting at the Meeting of the Waters

The River Avoca is straight ahead, with the River Avonbeg to the right and the River Avonmore to the left. Behind is the wee park, which features a monument to the Irish poet, Thomas Moore. He became famous in the 19th century as a poet and songwriter. Probably his most famous song is The Minstrel Boy, but he also wrote a poem about the Meeting of the Waters, which is inscribed on his monument.

Moore's Monument

There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;
Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.

Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest
In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best;
Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease,
And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.

There's a very picturesque bridge a little ways up the River Avonbeg.

Bridge over the River Avonbeg

And some picturesque tourists at the meeting point.

Us