we learn then unlearn
how to be free  
as we trade secrets
with the magpies
of Arthur's Quay Park
it's' on these summer days
such promises are made
keeping us warm
through seasons change
as we dance
to The Golden Horde
where a two for one
concession on the door
grants access to Termites
and its' cider soaked floor
here in this world
we have all that we need
we feel it through
reverberations
of music and heart
we won't want for much
once we don't lose our senses
our senses of touch

the years would give
what the magpies stole
to a lakeside hotel
where the clinking of glass
greets a grand hall
wedding guests align
a ballroom of romance
two friends move
so lost in time
trying to adult
whilst never growing old
we won then we lost
and we won again
but i never promised riches
i never promised poems
so here is our world
and all that we have
we feel it through
celebrations
of our music and heart
we don't want for much
for we never lost our senses
our senses of touch

Last night once more
I ventured beyond the pale
To find Nanci Griffith
Awaiting me there
She's pushing E's
On her drum n' bass knees
Pleading with me please
To be the last
of the true believers
But I can't and yet I can
Feel her watching over me
From a distance
She is just another no one
That's been sent to deceive
Yet another love for sale
Beyond this pale

So I move on at least
To my fourteen year old self
Weak arms and weaker will
Holding back a door
All in vain
As the screams grow
The knives and living dead flow
My father at the kitchen table
Silver bangle adorns his strength
He laughs at his son
How could it come to this?
A useless seed born with
a breathless kiss
Leave it to me comes his hiss
Tough love is for sale
Beyond this pale

To a foreign city
With the few friends I've left
It is anxiety and fear
That begin to whisper in my ear
You do not belong
You should never have come here
As the skies start to tear
Separation comes next
The rain empties the nest
Two by two, one by one
Friends and companions
To this city are gone
Desolate in a storm
Lies a desperate man
With a lonely love for sale
Beyond this pale

Tonight once more
I shall venture again for sure
As I pray to the gods
That I will not see you there
For my ecstasy would dissolve
At the closing of a door
As you walk out on me
Towards a rank only you see
That last cab to set you free
So tonight do not appear
Nor take to their stand
To settle their score
Let them be the ones
To finally understand
True love is not for sale
Beyond the pale

Criss Cross
Moments arise
Thoughts and life
Perfectly align
Synchronized
Harmony
One true life
Felt effortlessly
So seldom seen
To scarcely believe
Life more ordinary
Thoughts roam free
Running wild
To Dissipate
Claustrophobic
Fragments form
Ghosts of War
Nosebleed

Meeting below Shannon bridge
under April skies
From where
we could just about see
your Da's office in the
National Bank
They say he did the State
some service there
but as far as you were concerned
you didn't care

Sur' why else would you be here,
mitching school
with nothing to give
or leave in this world
but
Twenty John Player Blue,
this boy from the council estate
and a mark to be made
from a golden can
of aerosol spray

We laid it there beneath that bridge
with those of others
that had gone before
Above "Iron Maedin" spelt with the
e where the i should be
and the i where the e
And to the left of that
"Brits Out"
and
"Up the Ra"

I wanted to place a ****
before the Up
but sharp as a tack
you realised
that we had left our names
and it wouldn't take a genius
with or without
an i or an e
to figure it out
so I just
let it be

We joked that you
had the looks and the brains
and if only I had the brawn
we'd have been sure
to make lots of money
and opportunities
Instead we sat back
smoked
and enjoyed our craft
How I marvelled
over the beauty of your name
next to mine
added to a date
that now goes
unrecalled

But recall I do,
how when the April breeze
would blow
even just a little
that that bridge would whistle
and how it would seem
to carry
a song of hope and expectation
over the river
through the underpass
and straight onto
a promise
from my lips to
yours

Looking to the past
it seems as perfect now
as it was perfect then
and yet it passed
without that kiss
that had been dreamed for so long
now held up
in the breeze
of crippling fear and the ease
of not knowing
and
could have beens

I consoled myself
with the notion of stages
and building blocks
for closer binds
but blocks
they build walls
that blind
as they get too big to climb
and moments do pass
as dreams do die
under whistling bridges
and
April skies

I still have occasion
to walk that bridge
and still it whistles
fainter now than it used to do
a more distant song
carries a nostalgic air
for I don't dare
to go under
nor wonder
of the existence
of a golden mark
of an April day

For the ease of not knowing
our names go unseen
two more
long since lost
could have beens

she sat at 2B
Ljubljana to London Stanstead
straight and still
immaculately dressed
a lady of a certain age
intent to carry it with grace
hair so blonde
and inappropriately long
makeups filler
thickly clung to lines
of a life lived in simpler times
her fingers encrusted with jewels
decades of love adorned upon
  now seated amongst
  the business trough
here she was
beauty queen of her day

this is not to objectify
but differentiate
the greatest of all artistic endevour
to be respected
admired from afar
but above all
may it appreciate within
so take us back
some 30 years or more  
to Yugoslavia
and talks of revolution
from this beauty queens
city retreat
let my whispered words
seep through the ages
for that you may feel
all that you are
then and now
with ferocious pride
let you love this beauty possessed
so that future mirrors
senses and memories
may to you never portray
the ravages of bitter time

now this flight
is destined to land
as the stewardess she calls its' time
you ask my assistance
to retrieve your case
thanking me through
a cracked half smile
two strangers their turn
to disembark
as now we must end
this inconsequential affair

Welcome Sorrow
no need to seek forgiveness
for not knowing me by name
i've waited long and lonely
to feel the touch
of such desolate company
tell me then
are you here to show me
all of my tomorrows
reflected in a deep pool
of tears from yesteryears
show me that i can be a lover
but can never be loved
show me that i'll still be here
but never will i belong
that these are not my people
these are talents
to which i'll never possess
so stop whispering
stop whispering
come closer my friend
show me that nothing exists
over those grey foreboding hills
show me that nothing survives
at the end of a fractured rainbow
show me that the rivers and oceans
are but a flow of tiny tears
show me that all the dawns and the dusk
of this world to you belong
show me that the only peace to be found
is in a black dogs stare
come now my confidante
wrap me in your arms
so tightly once more
let me see through your eyes
feel through your veins  
speak through your wisdom
emasculate in your reign
but go now my lover
my temptress go
place these words so delicately
on your parched and wretched tongue
from a kiss
to a whisper
to a shattering scream
that this is my goodbye
this is my goodbye
that this is to be
Your final Goodbye

You're my fear
Everything that i hold dear
You hang on every word I say
As I pray, you won't grow
To one day, live that way
But to find your own words
Of world's old and new
That take you places
Beyond all that i once knew
Till that day, I'll always say
I'll carry your fear
Like a one true love
That i keep near
So grow my angel child
Take this life as you can
Be it one or be it many
Let it be dreams that you carry
And if you ever misstep
If you stumble or falter
I will always be humbled and proud
To be the one, to call you
Daughter

Where the river meets the sea
Behind a walled office of a harbour estate
A motivational picture hangs with dust
"Chart your own course", it patiently pleads
But surely knows little of these things
You called to me there once more today
Even sweeter than i ever could say
It had seemed so long in many ways
Yet you were opening up like yesterday
Whilst the world still spins around us
And painted ponies dream of ferris wheels
The early April sun breaking through  
Is at best a mere coincidence
For I never believed in anything more
Than people and what they choose to bring
Like the honesty that flows of a simple smile
Slow reveals all your intrinsic gold
We celebrate how we can never say goodbye
In a place where sad songs no longer reply
For I've sang too many of those of late
Hold'til tomorrow to reminisce about today
Pause and realise real beauty resides
For eternity in a true friends eyes

If i wore an elastic red band taut on my wrist
And snapped it often would it help me recall
The first day that i saw you from a distant past
The only face for me in a crowded lecture hall

Or if i was to pull that old instant photograph
Sequined black dress of another graduation dance
Monkey suit, pressed shirt and paisley bow tie
Two who never believed in a need of second chance

If I retook a trip to the wild Atlantic coast
Flew a kite of a deserted evening on Lahinch beach
Standing laughing at another baltic Irish summer
Would i just feel the cold whilst you remained out of reach

Or if i dropped the needle to our favourite record
A glass of Italian red wine and Waits' Blue Valentine
Would i feel you again where so often we lay
Or just hear the Blue as it drowns all reason, all rhyme

Yet wherever i go or whatever i do
I will never be able to recapture that glory of you
They say to move on, don't you ever look back...

Maybe tomorrow those same truths fade to black

Yet i stay

Recalling all the regrets of life
As they fuse to hazy memories of all i didn't do
Just like those defining mistakes
Were ones that I  never knew

And yet

I never asked to be a God
Or hold someone's fate in my hand
To be responsible for a heart, a life, a love
That was more than i could ever withstand

Should I now

Feel jealous, or some remorseful envy
Is it possible or would it as you said
Involve consideration for someones feelings
Other than my own instead

And yet

I long to feel, to make me seem alive
So come shatter this heart, break me
Let me writhe in anger, bitterness or futile rage
Desecrate this unkept grave and set me free

Yet i stay

Bleak in the shadows of a time since passed
Alone with this unrelenting sorrow
Save for the faint thud through the chambers
Of this heart empty and hollow

Taking two words to describe yourself
You just smiled "Annie Hall"
I had only seen Manhatten but somehow
Knew, knew how hard i'd fall
As for my turn
Well you just placed a finger on my lips
And then so softly whispered
Sentimental boy

That was then, as for now
Maybe the final credits have rolled
Our picturehouse now in ruins
No more screenings nor stories to be told
Like that derelict Ballroom of Romance
We visited at the edge of town
Summer nights, flagons of cider and your  
Sentimental boy

Recreating it's history
By it's broken down and boarded up wall
Slow dancing in the moonlight
Stopping only to swear we'd heard a call
Rising from the paupers graveyard
Dancing silhouetted in the stars
Ghosts of dead lovers to an old fashioned tune
Sentimental boy

This town now has changed so much
But none so more than we
Yet so often on a warm summers night
By that paupers graveyard you'd still meet me
Humming some half remembered melody
Whilst wishing on the brightest star
Please oh please, won't you just let me be....

                                                      ­               your
                                                sentimental boy

Women
Race
Climate
*****
Rapists
Fallacy
Bleeding
Disability
Wall
Islamaphobia

10 words
Here's 10 more

A ****** up Friday
What a ****
president donald trump

There it is again
Momentary recall
That first time I saw you
Smoking on your balcony sill
Immersed in Joy Division
A symphony in your shilouette
September streetlights rising on every exhale
If i could have stopped all time I would
Escape with you in a polaroid still
Relinquished my heart
Discovered my soul
Eyes transfixed
Wanting only you
Yet you looked to the world
And you wanted it all
That song is the same now as then
Love
love will tear us apart
tear us apart again...

This is not a eulogy nor let this be my epitaph
For what i have in you, I've waited my whole life to see
Someone to hope for, something to believe in
Trusted and true
Blue nails, red lips and you

Something good that not ever can get lost
Even now as you must make your way
Out of these darkened woods, brambles and thorns
Breaking on through
Blue nails, red lips and you

Forgive me now as i deconstruct this tempo, as I alter this key
And reflect on all that you'll continue to mean and to be for me
Yes something to believe in, a faith in you that knows no relief
A beauty, a grace, an honesty of heart, a purity of soul and mind
Be all you can be, travel your chosen paths, never falter nor once look behind
Be that shooting star that eclipses our sacred and shared celestial moon
Soar so high yet may you always have someone to watch over you.
Live, laugh, love
Blue nails, red lips and you

So go now, take your leave my love
Open your precious wings once more, take flight
For my eyes will never leave your translucent sky
Dreaming for two
Blue nails, red lips and you

And if that sky should ever darken
Where foreboding clouds warn of storms to run through
Let me provide your shelter, let me be your refuge
All that i can do
Blue nails, red lips and you

I'll always remember you, for me we shall never part
As your spirit echoes within the chambers of this heart
Each night i'll pray to all the God's and none
To false ones and true
That those red lips may never turn blue