Come Here To Me!

A rare picture of Behan at the Zoological Gardens, Phoenix Park.

I had intended doing a long article containing some pictures and tales of Dublin’s finest but I’ve decided too break it down and will try post up a new one every day or two…

One autumns evening, after a days hard work, Brendan Behan collapsed into a diabetic coma off the top of Grafton Street. It was at a time when he was at the height of his drunken notoriety and passers-by naturally thought he was just pissed as a fart. They took him to the nearby surgery of  a fashionable and well respected Dublin Doctor. The doctor decided to take a cardiograph and, somewhat nervous of his patient, took the chance to humor him a bit. He explained the workings of the cardiograph needle as it registered the faint heartbeats of a very sick and semiconscious Brendan. “That needle there is writing down your pulses, Mr. Behan, and I suppose, in its own way, it is probably the most important thing you have ever written,” to which Behan replied; “Aye, and it’s straight from me heart, too.”