In Memoriam RM 1993-2019

In Memoriam - RM 1993-2019

The January swell stole his young life
Til a February tide gave him back
To family and friends
Who searched to the end.

His light has been quenched
But his reflection still lingers
His voice had been drowned
But his echo is stronger.

His parents greet strangers
As Mary at the cross
But what can you say -
That makes sense of their loss?

His young life has ended
His legend lives on
In hearts and in minds
In hymn and in song.

The spring tide rising
Now burbles and flows
Neath the Galway cathedral
And into the Bay

That soft sheds a tear
For a young lad yet so fair
So generous of heart
His days cut so short.  

A shadow is cast
That will linger and last
Beyond the cold sunset
When stars have long passed.

Lady Luck

Lady Luck

We stumbled, bumbled
Along the path of life
We mumbled answers
That turned out just right.

We claim we made our luck
But know that chance
Instructed all our steps
Along life’s crooked path.

We claim our looks and brains
Which came from luck anyway
Alone explained whatever
Goals we met and aims.

Chez Nous

Chez nous

Not another moment spent
In an airport lounge
Not another precious day
In a queue to fly
Into another country
To join another queue.

Queues to enter, queues to leave
What insanity has possessed us
To squander precious hours and days
Going from here to there?

What is wrong in staying here?
Is it a crime to stand and stare
To live and love
The ordinary, the habitual?

The nearer hills are greener
The local fields smell fresh
The age old legends resonate
In souls that never strayed.

There is some virtue staying
And keeping close to home
Saving shoe leather and air fares,
Sparing earth for another age.

Granting the planet a break
From incessant holidays.
Staying simple and stable
grounded and tethered.

Chez nous.

Dying - Noli Timere

Dying - Noli timere

I died a thousand times before today,
A hundred aches and pains instructed me,
So well prepared am I to face eternity,
Whatever that may be.

Death, perhaps, is nothing more
Than drifting into space,
Into nothingness
Where everything and everyone we loved is lost
Without a trace.

Or else pure light and ecstasy
For those who hoped and loved
And created their own destiny
In music and in harmony.

For death will surely come to everyone
As we quite politely ignore and live a lie,
We grasp each day like a drowning man,
Desperately.  

Good luck and wisdom make us smaller
Our shadow shortens in every way
Our meals grow lighter
And our limbs grow thinner
Our sight starts failing
And our hearing fools us
A prelude to the final act.

No longer money means a thing
No hoarding silver now or then.
All that matters is the love we give
And receive from others on the way.

‘Fear not’ I heard him say
In silent churches and on stormy beaches;
We set sail at last, our final voyage
Into the reddened western skies,
At quiet sunset.

To drink

To drink

I’ll raise a glass to demon drink

Attacker and defender of my spirits

At times it brings a joy and bonhomie

Of kindred lives and shared illusions. 

It numbs the passage of the soul

Along the path to Purgatory 

It tames life’s realities

It rounds the rougher edges

That scrape our skin and scar our soul. 

For oft reality is too much to bear

The glare of unvarnished truth too harsh....

We need escape and drink

Reduces pain and stress

Albeit momentarily. 

Poolside Blues

Poolside Blues

We are the lucky ones

At least we know

And daily thank our lucky stars

To have been born mid century 

In a country far apart

From famine and from war. 

We sit in contented groups

Around the poolside bar 

And drink the local wine

While trying all the while 

Not to ponder or to think 

How life might be

A half a century from now. 

We are a generation 

No better and no worse 

Than those who came before 

Or those who follow us behind;

But find ourselves with matches

To burn the city down. 

At times like Nero we fiddle and we pray

That the fire we once started might go away. 

At times we simply toast some bread

And guiltily eat and drink  

While watching Rome go up in flames. 

Down by the poolside bar they’re calling time

And old grey heads drink up 

Uncertain what the night might bring

Or the legacy we’ve left behind. 

Ave,Imperator, morituri te salutant...

Frequent Flyer

Frequent Flyer

Whenever I fly and the plane leaves the soil,

I know I could die, but I’m reconciled

Helpless as a babe, suspended in air,

I’m not in control, I’m in God’s hands now. 

If not today, then some day, for sure

When the choice is no longer mine, 

When the heavens draw me in as with everyone

To revert to the centre, to cleave to the core. 

At one with the world, along with the stars 

When the time is right, with any luck

To pass to the other side, to sleep with the saints

And the sinners are cleansed, there’s no difference now.