Play it again

  As he got older As he got older he put out fires Lit in previous decades by his passions  The embers glowing for a while They burnt up all pretensions.  No need to save, no need to spend He had honored these traditions Full and well when passions furnace Required blind submission.  At peace with man, at peace with God No great goals left to achieve Once a time for strident action Now a time for doing nothing.  There is a time for watching rivers As they course their way to sea Observed by man but unimpeded Their journeys of a thousand years.  We are that piece in the mosaic No need to strive for more Nothing added and nothing less In the grand designer’s plan.  As the soul turns back and sails To the port of start and end To the harbor of the spirit Failing flesh can now ascend. 

  The old man The old man coughed and paused The flu he’d caught and kept him company Was going nowhere, nor was he Except perhaps to the undertaker.  He felt no pity for he had lived Beyond his siblings and his kin Now turned eighty he had regrets But really very few.  His awkward walk caused no comment His daily round invisible To daily Mass and tiny shops Who knew him through and through.  He’d sacked the doctor some years back Too many ailments, too much bad news He’d rather live his last few years At home in total ignorance.  Besides he had no wife to trouble him Separated, yes his best decision To set her free last fifty years Abroad, remarried, with grandkids.  He felt no malice to the world No shame at serving as a soldier With millions others in the army That moves each year from life to death.  The undertaker was paid up A plot was purchased near his brother  No man could ever say He didn’t pay his way.  And so one day the Mass is o...

  Every leg Every leg, every bottom  Conceived by God and paraded On the beach each single day A daily wonder of the world.  Knobbly knees and faded skin Sunburnt calves and aging arms In a land so soft and calm For the cynic peace and balm.  Kids in strollers, kids in prams Teetering holding grannies hand Tons of flesh exposed to sun Not seen daylight in so long.  Every decade appears and shows The aging process which we know Delivers happiness and wrinkles The perverse reward for getting old.  Girls in thongs so teeny weeny Bums and boobs strive to escape With little there to trap the flesh Insouciant but desperate  To catch the eye of someone richer Who can afford the tiny clothes She strides into the waves regardless Of the top she left behind Handsome boys well disguised With ink and markings from a comic Bulging biceps, massive chests Sculpted bodies by design.  Despite all that the sun shines down Smiling like a doting parent Well above our...

  Another day Another day, another miracle  Or four passes by my door All coincidences now are spent These grace’s heaven sent  To a poor man who barely shares The faith of fathers of another age Why such grace is is spread Unsuspected and uneven.  Life makes fools of men Who strain to claim all wisdom For God it seems prefers the simple And raises up the down below Call it luck or call it grace No denying it’s commonplace  To find upon the forest floor Diamonds scattered by the score.  Being human I strive to say Try to work out and explai

  It’s the end of October   It’s the end of October on Dun Leary pier The sun comes and goes and plays with our fears Some people wear coats and some just wear shorts Hats and scarves for those not taking chances  How little our troubles when we reflect on Melissa Storm five in Jamaica and heading towards Cuba  Always the poorest who suffer it seems Heaven’s on strike or just gone on leave.   The greatest of sins perhaps to think that Our good fortune is something we earned  Or taking for granted what others cannot For everything’s fine until it is not.  Taking for granted the air that we breathe The food and the drink that others still need The heat and the roof are taken as given The sin of the spoilt screaming at Heaven.  Nothing is surer than those who don’t value What is given for free could lose it  In the blink of an eye it’s come and it’s gone What we would give to enjoy it again.