The Meeting of the Waters

A bust of the poet and a dead tree commemorate Thomas Moore and his popular song about the Vale of Avoca – “The Meeting of the Waters” – where the Avonmore and the Avonbeg meet to form the Avoca River.

There is not in this wide world a valley so sweet

As the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet; ...

One day Thomas Moore and a friend were standing at the Meeting of the Waters admiring the view. A beggar came up to them looking for money, but Moore ignored him. The beggar said:

“If Moore was a man without place of abode,

Without clothes on his back, and him walking the road,

Without bit in his belly or shoes on his feet,

He wouldn’t give a damn where the bright waters meet.”

Moore asked him to repeat it, and he did. “That’s as good as I ever heard,” said Moore. “I couldn’t do better myself.” And he gave him half a sovereign.