TALKING TO THE FOLKS

I was talking to the folks
back in oh

I don't know
1904?

They didn't know me and
I didn't know them

from Adam
but what the heck

folks is folks.

They were my folks
living their 1904 lives

unaware of a me
they didn't exist

as yet.

My Granda hadn't as yet
got around to making

my Da and my Da
hadn't yet invented me.

Not even a photo exists
of who they used to be.

No black&white or sepia people
to ponder upon and wonder.

Hey he's wearing my ear
and she's got my smile

plastered all over
her face.

And so I go
back to the past

walk the roads
they walked

see the skies
they lived under

listen to them talk
the things they may have said

lean against a wall
they would have leant against

solid brick against my back
soaking up the sun

of 1904.

"Howdy folks!"
I'd say

leaping out of my time
machine of words.

And the folks would say:
"So, you're Donall, eh?"

in their kind Dempsey way
smile their 1904 smiles.

"Delighted to meet you at
. . .last."

they'd laugh
in their Corkonian way.

"Them words are a mighty fine
time machine!"

nodding their heads
in time.

"What's it run on?"
they'd ask

in their 1904 way.

"Oh...!" I'd say
in my 21st Century voice

"Thought,
just
pure thought!"