Ballyferriter
First Published in Connotation Press, also in Change in the Wind
each little house with a
world of its own
safely tucked beneath a
grey shell
for a generation, or two
and when the sea is full
it calms
content to nestle up
against
the warm heart of a
supine earth
a surface for living
laid down
by hard men with gentle
souls
the cloak of Brigid
over this land of rock
and sea
and always the wind
and what it carries
blowing from beyond the
edge
of the earth,
out there where the sun
goes each evening
hardening into a
flattened disc before slipping down
into the otherworld
out there where the holy
ones sent their
sacrifice and prayer
and against whose threat
kings erected ramparts
of stone
that have since been
overthrown
by science and new
beliefs.
Now we face East.
east to await the risen
Christ
east to the bigger
island
east to the Empire of
Europe
and still the wind and
what it carries
comes from over the edge
of the earth
bringing the first
breath . . . and its promise.
©Niall OConnor 2013
Good Bookshops stocking Change in the Wind:
Scribbles (Drumcondra)
Books Upstairs (College Green)
Mmmm, lovely!
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