Help me love you Lord
More deeply than before
Help me trust you
No matter what life has in store
Help me see you
In the way that you see me
Help me Lord, to act
Like I have been set free
Help me separate
What is lie and what is fact
Let my words build up and create
Giving hope to a world that's diseased
Strength to the weak and love to all
Praying always and down on my knees
Help me be silent
So, I will hear the call
Help me Lord to always be brave
In the knowledge you are mighty to save
I want to know you
More personally and intimately
Even if it takes all eternity
I want to meet you here
And search harder, dig deeper
What lies inside the heart of a seeker
Take me into the holy of holies
Pull me closer and take me deeper
Deeper than I've ever been before
I am aware of my faults and failings
Aware of the cracks and imperfections
But I am also aware
Of your mercy and grace
And in the presence of your love
All my fears have been erased
I can say with blessed assurance
I understand the Lord my God
More deeply than before

Love trusts, lust twists
Love rains, lust drains
Love reaches, lust catches
Love couples, lust combines

Love retains, lust detains
Love relies, lust relays
Love cares, lust caresses
Love binds, lust blinds

Love floats, lust flees
Love belongs, lust longs
Love ascends, lust descends
Love fames, lust defames

Love creates, lust recreates
Love commands, lust demands
Love chooses, lust chases
Love boosts,  lust boasts

Love at heart
Lust in mind
Love in lust is good
Lust in love is better
  
Love likes privacy
Lust looks for piracy
Love opens lust
Lust closes love

Love is slow, lust is fast
Love is steady and stable
Lust is mobile and fragile
Love is reliable, lust is liable
Love is long, lust is short
  
Love is homogeneous
Lust is heterogeneous
Love is defensive
Lust is offensive
  
Love is precious
Lust is pernicious
Love is supportive
Lust is supplementary
  
Love is refined
Lust is defined
Love betters life
Lust batters it.
  
Love has character
Lust has conduct
Love wins over
Lust weans out
  
Love combines
Lust divides
Love is cool
Lust is crazy
Love is peaceful
Lust is pleasant
  
Love is wholesome
Lust is piecemeal
Lust comes first
Love becomes best

Love is progressive
Lust is aggressive
Lust laminates
Love illuminates

Love is slow n steady
Lust is hasty n nasty
Love is dense, lust is tense
Lust is conditioned,
Love is air-conditioned
  
Lust is lovely to begin with
Love is lustrous to end up
Love heals, lust wounds
Love owns, lust disowns
  
Love is onus, lust is onerous
Love is basic, lust is allowance
Love conforms, lust confuses
Love binds, lust blinds

Be aware of love
Beware of lust
That comes like
wolf in sheep’s clothing

Let the fair blend
of love and lust
rule  the roost

BECOMING THE MAN MY FATHER ALWAYS WAS
(for Brian D)  

each night
I would follow you
through the rituals

of what you had to do
being Daddy
I wanted to be Daddy too

Mimicking your gait
becoming an exact
copy of you

trailing along
in your footsteps
like a lone seagull

following in the wake
of some great ship
of state

watching the water
burn
'til it was all bubbles

then letting it calm down
before filling my mother's
hot water bottle

carrying it
to her side
like a lover's gift

I was
your little
shadow

she'd always
smile:
'Thank you Danny! '

'That's alright love
was always
the answer

these the ritualistic words
in the hot water bottle
ceremony

then he'd teach the clock
to ****
adjusting it with his hands

and wind up Time
so that it spit tick & tocks
all through the night

then go lock doors
turn keys draw bolts
'That's it, son! '

I used to imagine
being you
and now I am

my own man
winding up Time
bringing my missus

the gift of a hot water bottle
(the gift of me)    
both equally heart warming

'Thank you Dónall! '
she always
smiles

'That's all right love! '
I always
answer

me the man
I am
because of you

before I Was a Poet
I wrote poetry alone
when I read poetry alone
when I put a poetry on the shelf
I was in love with his poems
wiping away my tears
he soothed my loneliness
calming my anger
just looking at his smiling face
I was happy
I was a poet
now that I'm a poet
as I was then
I can't love his poems
but
my love is also unstoppable
because of one of his poems.