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I knelt up at the window Looked out on yellow light A street lamp in Birmingham A prisoner in the night Those first few weeks away from home And I eleven years old What on earth was I doing there! Away from the family fold   Later on a I found a hiding place AmongContinue reading “The Yellow Light”

They are all about my age these days Obituaries Contemporaries of mine Exequies Phil Bennett now Makes his final pass I’ll catch it Cover some more grass   Makes you think And then makes you forget I don’t want this This dying Not just yet So keep on moving The advice I get these daysContinue reading “Day To Day”

As a child I prayed for Russia At the end of Mass In old age I pray again Has nothing come to pass? Thousands dying on battlefields Fodder for the guns A madness gets a hold of us We’ll let the bloodshed run   In personal life Jesus teaches us to do good to everyone,Continue reading “Casualties Of War”

He let himself be taken Did not fight Did not resist the guards at night He became forsaken   And yet he stood his ground He was a man Never was a finer man And his voice the sound   All of us will suffer pain It’s part of life The constant strife But inContinue reading “Facing Sorrow”

It’s an image and a memory Out of the long ago Of a girl I saw out walking A girl I used to know I at the bottom of Shakerley Road And she was walking home Home from swimming practice Hindsford was her home   I thought her lovely I just then We hadn’t longContinue reading “In remembrance: Mary Reilly”

The sky turns grey The rain begins to fall In sudden torrents A very British squall No tornado alley here No earthquake to appal Just Atlantic breezes Come to call   Temperate our climate Moderation here No Sahara sun beats down Nor icicles to fear Atlantic winds and rain clouds Sunshine then to cheer NoContinue reading “A Sudden Squall”

Matthew 5:27-32   Adultery Something that adults do? Not a bit of it Try the other shoe I love the origin of things Find out where they come from The key idea the kernel So that we can learn from   Adultery comes from adulterate To pollute or to defile To mix a stranger elementContinue reading “To Adulterate”

A counsellor is your friend Is on your side Is patient with you When you tend to hide Will always understand And take your part Is there for you Attentive mind and heart   But a counsellor will hold you To the truth This is no conspiracy No cheating here forsooth If you can findContinue reading “Say It”

Paul Ormsby Ciaran Smith Two men lost at sea Two were found and they brought home Given burial prayer intoned But two still lost at sea   Erris people walk the shore And look out for a sign Two helmets carried on the tide Tokens of those men and pride Washed in on the brineContinue reading “A Watery Grave”

My sister is married now fifty years A teacher then in London Met a Mayo man down there Cricklewood and Kilburn Lovely wedding happy day Friends and family gathered Lovely meal and music played Glad to see them tethered   Home they came to Martin’s place Hoping to get settled Didn’t work out so backContinue reading “Golden Wedding”

My sister challenged me To find a rhyme For a hill that we had climbed one time Not a mountain like the Reek So much smaller A little peak But small of size Its name was great Majestic just to contemplate As if the world should come and bow Approach with awe and then kow-towContinue reading “A Rise Of Ground”

  A house forlorn for forty years Now it wins the prize An artist made his home here Revealed before our eyes   Rough grey walls a bright blue door Grey blue slate above Inside the labour of his years Labours of his love   A croft it was on Lewis land Away across theContinue reading “A House Inhabited”

Mothers don’t have to say They only have to look For the look is always love Even when they scold This person is my origin Where my life began She nurtured me and fed me Before I was a man   And letting go She holds me still in love She might annoy me sometimesContinue reading “Mary Of Nazareth”

You cannot see the wind But you can feel it on your face You see how it moves the trees As it blows from place to place It really is a mighty force Something to respect Often it refreshes us Such is its effect   So too with the Spirit Sent to dwell in usContinue reading “Spiritual Invitation”

We do not arrive in this world Ready made We have to grow and become What we shall find As we stumble along Will add to life’s hidden song   I became trapped In a system and stalled I functioned But I didn’t live Until a chance meeting Opened a door And suddenly I wasContinue reading “Road Of Life”