Una hora menos

  To continue fighting   To continue fighting when the war is lost Is a noble and a fitting thing We yet might win a skirmish here or there Rescue an orphan on our final march.  It takes some courage when you see ahead A little better than the other folk Who dare not raise their heads Above life’s burden and it’s parapet.  To leave the jingo at the door To kneel humbly at our mortality And that of all humanity In the blink of a light year eye.  We can be gracious in defeat We can be noble knowing victory Is unlikely but still proud  To battle on regardless.  Is this the final lesson of the cross? Told two thousand years ago And still not understood by many A portent of the things to come.  The lesson was, before it changed, Before proud churches sold us a line,  That sacrifice and goodness Are indeed their own reward. 

  Carne March 2023 On an early morning walk Along the sea on a weathered path The early sun is lighting up the waves Whose crests smash on the rocks That guard the fragile fields  From an oceans wrath.  This time of morning precious When a milky sun breaks through  It guilds the lonely landscape  Where ancient monks once prayed  And peace is brought amid the noise Of breakers crashing on the sand.  This sea seems mine and heavens too As Spring advances on a Wexford shore Reminding us the sea’s our master From whence we sprang  And whence we flow Now and at the end of time. 

  When all trace When all trace of man is gone A million years from now and nature Has recovered and all is well  The earth shall stay its lonely path.  All is bright and everything is back To where young Adam left it Our planet blue, white and green Travels through the galaxy.  In ten thousand years so much has changed All buildings lie in rubble, occupied, By mutant birds and animals  Wild wolves cry out at night.  In a thousand years from now The battle has been lost Pollution stalks a poisoned land With no way back for last mankind.  A sorry tale but in the scale of things The universe expands unnoticed An experiment has sadly failed Evolution stays hopeful all the same.  A galaxy without emotion Hurtles through a black vacuum Searching for new forms of life  More intelligent the next time surely. 

  Love Love stands tall in its littleness Casting a long shadow in the hall Lit by a bulb yellowed by age Proving all great things are small.  Love lies mute in silence Words long failed life’s main aim Just crumbs of care left behind Love calls out the pilgrims name.  Love awakes before the dawn Before the birds greet early light Love pours the oil and tends the wick That comforts lost souls through the night  In the end we melt and fade The gravestone marks our spot Where love has lived but never dies Around love’s grave - forget me nots.