Paddy
Here, in the bosom of the Sacred Heart,
days are counted like pills.
The car flow at your window
dulls you in its flood.
The original trucker, you carried sand,
weren’t seen for dust;
when concrete blocks were touched by hand.
They say you left Connemara boatless.
A tired traveller in an unused station;
ticketless, you wait in this unholy place,
secular and heartless. Even railways
have in journey, a heaven of sorts.
I see you now on the Barna road,
picking up dancers, Sunday evenings;
half Furbo, with their bikes in the back;
‘Hangar’ bound.
Pulling pints in Ost na Mara,
the slow hand on the tap;
unmoved by the interrupted flow
with a holy hour each weekday.
You’re a long way from the ‘Hangar’ now,
foxtrot and two-step, nineteen fifty eight.
Death sidesteps you now, as you once did love;
too slow for the one, too fast for the other.
Page(s) 27
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