Poems written between 1990 and 2012.
Requiem
Yellow crocuses are bursting forth
around the gravestone
where your name will be etched.
There is nothing to draw me back home,
the final threads of our lives snapped apart.
I sit by your side
and listen to the sirens
moving away in the distance.
Silence descends around us,
alone at last, words are lost
in this vast open space,
I look around me
and see snowdrops shivering,
their petals wasting away in the pale sun
as you were in those final days.
Mother and daughter
picking shells along the beach
we rinsed them in the sea
and watched tarnished pastels shining through,
small glimmers of light reflected in my tears
I see your hand reach out to me
as we skipped along the water's edge,
grey froth on our shoes
we watched the trawlers come and go.
And now I sit here beside you
and listen to the faint hum of traffic
passing us by,
alone at last I can hear your voice
filling the gap.
A Trickle of Light
A trickle of light
Flickered through the closed curtains,
Her heavy eyes succumbing
To the faint glow of a declining sun,
She remained by her window
Until the last shimmers of light
Disappeared from the sky,
Shrouding her in darkness.
Bunnacurry Poet 