AND IF YOU HEAR ME SPEAK
( for Granny Dempsey )



and if you hear me speak
of the greenest goosegogs
then it is obviously the summer of '63



with the sunlight of that year
trapped tightly
within them



and if you hear me speak
of goosegogs and a certain year
then I most



certainly will be
talking of
my blind granny



who used her crooked hands
to sculpt my face into being
and I am here



because her blind hands
saw me so
completely



and I was made
anew each year
as if I had never been



before
but
am now



and if you hear me speak
of goosegogs, the year of '63
and my blind Cork granny



then you will know
that I speak of
the gentlest love



I have ever known
and now I will speak no more
for I have said everything



that can be said
and that
goes beyond all saying