Look And See

All those hours

Staring out the window

John McGahern’s phrase

And Heaney too

I saw a photograph

And daddy in his bungalow

Staring through the pane

What images did he see out there?

 

And I the same

I sit these days

Looking out my window

A window on the world

Is what it is

Local life goes up and down

Cars go scooting by

The postman with his letters

Quick of step

 

Other screens we look at too

Computer screen TV

Tons of information every day

Entertainment in the evening

Close our eyes in sleep

All this looking watching

Constant peep

 

It is good to look into another’s eyes

To see another looking back at you

Kindly looks and loving looks

Warm us to life’s core

Without that look

Life becomes a bore

 

I have a picture on my screen

Of Margaret’s smiling face

Warm brown eyes looking back at me

I say hello each morning

She smiles back from the screen

The lovely girl who made a man of me

 

Blessed are your eyes

Because they see

The image of the living God

The Lord

Look on Christ

The Gospel page and read

And let the Lord

Look lovingly on thee

 

Brian Fahy

22 September 2021