To see the hotel rise and bare its face between the repulsed pillars of peace was a sight long savoured on my first return to Derry.
And never before had oxidised copper appeared so appealing - now the patina beamed like a
tarnished hat upon a goliath, urging me closer to the heart of the city.
Imposing, imperfect but effortlessly pretty.

Seeing Derry for the first time in weeks, it felt different.
Not like a new place, but rather a very old one with all prosperity frozen.
A place you visit because of how old it is - what has happened there, not what is happening.
There will always be a certain amount of charm to the city; whether it's derived from the aged
walls that watch your every move like wise, sentient snakes swallowing the old centre. Or
perhaps the people will charm you, as a wounded animal may.
As regardless of circumstance they always find a way.

An unfortunate breed, many of the Derry ones. A breath-taking city undoubtedly, but I
couldn't help feeling bad for those that couldn't get out. It's like quicksand - unique,
intriguing, beautiful in a sense, but if you linger too long it'll pull you in.
The second largest city in the North, yet we lay detached and divorced from the commerce of
Belfast - no motorway to link us with the Queen's city, for reasons known all too well.
More like purgatory though I've painted it like hell.

I always felt people here knew strongly what they stood against - but never for.
Knew what had happened to the city - but not what will.
An untapped pipeline of problems lays trembling beneath us all.
Issues that we can't or won't address.
I've known people two, three, four years my junior that felt the Foyle offered their only
escape. It's been that way for centuries - the Foyle let us out - in famine or fight the New
World awaiting through its mouth. A fast flowing river capable of washing it all away.
But now it was being used for a very different kind of release.
Not to find new shores, but perpetual peace.

In spite of this, it is my home and always will be.
And I love it for it has formed me.
Though I may sound wary or condemning, it is only because I hold it so dear.
The original beacon of the North, until usurped by Belfast after two hundred years.
A city of culture, known long before they told us.
But I must be careful not to rest here for much, one can become hardened
By pondering too long the citys song, a morbid tale and ardent.

The Hall's bell moans and wails, like a Siren baiting me with its soft appearance.
The light refracting through the stain glass throws obscene blends of colour over the city,
glimmering, undualting, and I am mesmerised.
A facade and cadence used to deceive, urging me closer to the heart of the city.
Imposing, imperfect yet even more pretty.

Ooh...this... just an amazing grace note
     recalling how I felt like an ***
and wanna toot 'bout me getting steered
     (as a heavy metal kid Rocker)

     toward befriending a brass
see gutsy, *****,
     and MainLine snooty upper class
action button down

    (grace fully slick as vaseline), airily glinting
     forcibly hawked, laundered, and pawned
     by the instrumental
     Mister Deangelo O'Donnell, High School

     (mud flapping, ornery hearing,
     and quid juicing Ska Welch ching)
     music teacher oompah crass
tone deaf when aye trumpeted desire

     to master the Coronet
analogous to pursing lips
     blowing tightly held grass
blade between two abetted,

     cinched fastened opposable thumbs,
which tooting a supposed aural aphrodisiac
     to attract a zaftig well proportioned lass
     (ideally shaped like a miniature Tuba)

with one steel funnel like mouthy mass
that probably explains, how such a gal
     could easily emulate
     ****** pucker earning pass

to illustrious honorable first chair
and blasts gratitude akin
     as Gabriel would declare
heavenly expressions conducting

     angels thru atmospheric ether
alighting on mortal ushering melody
     with rites of harkening
     springtime Renaissance Faire

solar rays golden raiment
     splays rainbow fragments off
     beveled, bellowed, and
     bedecked polished flare

audiological sound waves trick
     saw toothed reflected
     silhouetted orchestral shadows
to dance as conductor's baton gear
musicians horns ensemble
     epochal feast to hear.

Pellucid pearls in northeastern
   North America since planetary birth
comprise Lakes Superior, Michigan,
     Huron, Erie, and Ontario
   (HOMES acronym) dearth
largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth
straddle Canadian–United States

   border tethering partial global girth
constituting 21% of world's surface
   fresh water species hearth
total surface equals 94,250 square miles
   And total volume equals
   5,439 cubic miles immeasurable worth.

Lake Erie from Erie tribe, abridged
   form of Iroquoian word erielhonan “long tail”
Lake Huron named by French explorers
   for Wyandot or “Hurons”
   whence they did sail
Lake Michigan likely from Ojibwa word
   mishigami “great water”

   aka outsize gold quail
Lake Ontario i.e. “Lake of Shining Waters”
   shimmering like hammered coat of mail
Lake Superior coined from French

   “lac supérieur” "upper lake",
   an emerald watery dale
   Ojibwe people called it gitchigumi
   medicinal to cure that, which might ail.

These five lakes each reside in separate basin
form a single, naturally interconnected
   body of fresh water caisson
linking east-central interior
   of North America to Atlantic Ocean
   akin to an escutcheon.

From interior to outlet at St. Lawrence River,
water flows via Superior to Michigan-
   Huron southward to Erie to avoid a shiver
finally released northward to Lake Ontario
   as like a well taut archer with his quiver.

The lakes drain a large watershed
   via many rivers as if a united olympic team
populated with approximately 35,000 islands
   this estimate not x stream
the Great Lakes region contains
   many thousands of smaller lakes,
   often called inland lakes undulating

   in cascading analogous to a fluid ream
Lake Michigan the only one located
   entirely within United States
   while the others border between
   United States and Canada
   essentially a liquid manifolded seam.

Lakes Michigan and Huron
   basically comprise a single lake,
sometimes called Lake Michigan
   Huron, combined doth make

   total area of 45,300 square miles (117,000 km2)
   have the same surface elevation of 577 feet (176 m),
   connected by 295-foot deep Straits
   of Mackinac Islands splayed like a rake.

Approximately 35,000 islands extant
   throughout oceanic like sea
largest among them Manitoulin Island
   in Lake Huron brushing up against Goliath knee.

The second-largest island
   Isle Royale in Lake Superior to boot
both of these islands contain
   multiple lakes them
   selves sacrilegious despoliation
   exceed wages of sin, hence
   further discussion, sans sanctity moot.

You cannot move
the river − only
the boat.