Speaking of the metaphor ..............................
Later when kin and I gathered
As we are wont to do
To weep and laugh and weep anew,
Back to mind came a haunting knell
I now remembered well.
How first afar then closer still
Through winter chill
A warning wail from each crossing.
Whistled down the track
And up the long line echoed back.
And remembering, in a shiver I knew
The whistler was none other than the shrew
Wailing as Banshees do,
Coming for poor Paddy McGrew.