The empath walks and she believes In everything she finds upon her sleeves To be hers But all the wars That people fight In their own candlelight Are open season And she finds the reason To live And forgive The girl that broke her heart And left her in the darkest dark In the age of fourteen There were nights I couldn’t dream At all And every wall I ever faced Was somehow out of place In this vast open space Like stars in the darkness of the case We are all held within And the notion of sin Is archaic and grey And I don’t believe in it anyway As I make my First Confession I sit in the pews wondering what expression Of grief I should portray Because I cannot find the way To see evil inside of myself Everything is ancient and on the shelf And I take it down and dust off The trust that all is not lost As dawn breaks and I realise That I am more open skies Than I ever was land I see you there and I take your hand And lift you up And if I ever thought I knew love It was this moment here You are my eternal, dear
Oh Elaine whose words of wisdom Would you use them to forgive them For me You were always so eternity As you encourage the best of me To keep on with the fight Like you’re the match and I ignite With every spark that fuse Uses the road to confuse Me with the skin I know And I did not let you go I just had to gain some ground So I could hear the sound Of alone together And the weather Brings me back to your door I knock and ask if you love me more For the absence that held There was something that weld You to me In those years infinity As we traversed the town And there was no trace of a gown As we blue jean the scene Like a Jane Eye and Lizzie dream I have the blind hero and you Are heir to a love most true That beats in both our hearts What is it that it imparts I hope that equanimity Still holds the best of me In the soul of you It means so much to me that us two Were what we are I still drive the car With the memory of you knocking on the window To show me left from right though And you do not let go I love you always and I hope you know
Looking for salvation in the stars It’s like trying to round some prison bars As they, adjacent, keep a defense Til you’re hands and knees in the present tense And do I confess My wilderness and impress Some secret subtlety afar Oh, the world, how near you are When you just take a glance At the vulnerable in my stance And I wish away Tomorrow another yesterday Don’t you see That you were the ocean to me And the sea at night Oh, how it glitters in the moonlight To reflect your face Now forever is without a trace Gone from these hands I’m on the shore just pacing sand As you glide effortlessly along another terrain Have all my past lives been in vain To bring me to this A pair of lips that death might kiss Someday or will The power of life to kill All that it breathes air into And consciousness is quintessentially you So you can’t lose it But did I choose it This marching band There’s nothing I have really planned Coz all falls away And what you leave til another day Gets left behind They say I am out of my mind But I think they’re wrong I’m too deep in it and that’s my song Can I hold the tune I did when you walked in the room And my heart hammered against my chest The depth of wisdom that I invest In you to be all you claim Now it’s been years and you’re just a name I click into Tell me did I ever reach you Or was it all just empty talk The way you hold yourself when you walk Like you’ve been punched Something hits you and I can feel the crunch As you double over side to side But hell if I know you’re still alive And kicking me somewhere under the seat Why did heaven have us meet If it was just to part And you are the king of my heart
I can’t be ruled by the threatening stone A world with me in it all alone As I get by on each step I take Dreaming of ways that you might wake And it’s never on a Sunday when I’m at my brightest Like water as vapor it still takes the lightest Voice in the room rise to the sound And it’s been so long you haven’t been around And I’ve been getting by And I really try To shine but it’s getting dimmer Each time they repeat that love is a sinner And I try to hold on to the sword as it stays Embedded in ice as the music plays And we rise like a forest out of the ground Hear winter call like it’s just a sound As the monument tome to all we once were Is reimagined one moment with her And I’ve spent so long trying to gain traction Then I’m overruled by one interaction As the speeding van plays the sonnets we know All for one so don’t let go
I spend all of my time talking to the voice in my head Is it telepathy or resident dread And I don’t expect you to believe That to stare at the mirror is to grieve Looking at the reflection of something temporal Is it empty or I would venture full Of wit and wisdom and midnight tomes Clicking away from the habit of homes That seem to populate my tv screen Was it real or just a dream A nightmare I can wake up from The leaving of loss of everything’s gone In a moment I’m real and see inside Give up the venture capital to hide Within this little hut I’ve built Giving advice but the talking has stilled Into an ever present calm Do you read lines or just hold my palm Against yours for a moment or so A secret handshake you thought to show Me in our intimate endeavor I know I’m innocent but this is forever And I won’t paint another colour blue Over the one that came from you As the sky holds the memory of us And there’s something I implicitly trust That is between us two I had faith and it brought me you Maybe not in the way I had thought But like a soldier that’s been caught In a single glance you stare The Earth quaked as you stood there Looking past the facade It’s a moment and I want you bad To be what you’ve always been If you’re the King and I’m the Queen Can we give up the reign Coz it only brings us pain In attempting to be what we never were I wish you well for What it’s worth at any rate You looked at me And there was another state That just seemed to embrace And I find that the sight of your face Inspires prose This is me And the less travelled road
Getting drunk in the city Darragh’s cute and Johnroy is witty And Liosa and Isabelle are so pretty Im too smart and that’s a pity And I feel lost in the move of the club Marian holds my hand as we walk round the pub And it’s a sprawling mess but it’s divine The days UCD was mine And I did less learning than ever before Don’t you see how the sun lit up the floor As we did a skit about being D4 I’d never been that sassy before But it only made us closer as a group And I was just sitting on the stoop When he laughed and told a joke And he smiles so I don’t have to cope With this damn state of mind that’s dragging me under He is the clouds But I am the thunder And I just rumble Into the town that we own He’s older than me But you never would’ve known As he bought me a drink That said don’t think Too much about those things He makes a face and my heart sings He throws his arm casually round my shoulder And I feel I’ve just dropped the boulder That I’ve been rolling up this hill He lets me see his heart at will It’s lockdown and I’m thinking of him Wondering if he kept that grin And nothing burns like gasoline You’re the fire in my dream And I never told you what you wanted me to Could you see that I love you? And he probably has a furnace to build He’s the red in my heart and it cannot be filled With the memory of what we were Can I present tense the moment I’m her As we’re running down aisles and chasing down stars And Rob, you know, he plays guitars And I just wish I could be involved Coz this damn problem’s never solved But I wouldn’t change it, because we met I hold a space in my soul for you yet
You’re mysterious And the guys just call you Chris And I have to adjust my vision for the time being Because I’m not sure exactly what I’m seeing As you softly ask me my name And I’d love to do the same But the ghost of winter left last evening And I’ve given up on all my believing And the night isn’t cold but it sure is dark And I used to live right by the park As I listened to JV McMorrow That year I transcended the sorrow And clicked my tongue to my own beat I used to just drive down the street With a bigger sense of life and purpose Not chasing my tail like a dog in a circus Anyway it’s been eons But you cut through the neon Back to where I love the feel Of the men with which I deal And you’ve got something so real In the silence that I just steal Before I hang up the phone It’s good for five minutes to be alone With a voice like yours down the line I blush at the question and answer I’m fine Coz I know this number is a hard one to call But you smile, I can hear it through the air wall And I wonder exactly who you are Do you ever think time is measured by a star As we orbit around what’s fixed in space Running the rivers like it is a race But everything is just typed in notes And I must admit that I love quotes And what they bring to the table If you’re sitting at one are you able To be outside in the fields of yore Is everything as before? Or are you something I’ve never seen I hear his voice and shake out of the dream
We’re up here at 39000 feet Where the cold is warm as the elements meet And make a force of nature new If you don’t know I’m talking about you As somewhere we swim inside the depth And the best thing about Now is what is unmet By the forest in kind of trees and of beers And I lost myself in the years and years Trying to find what can’t be described All the while knowing I’m still alive Coz I feel this heart beat through my skin But there’s a part of me that’s deeper within Than any skin and bone can mend And death is simply not the end Just a continuum of undefended peace Or a moment of great release As all of the sidewalks lead into one Trust in God and in the Son
Sailing a ship to the furthest forever
Irrespective of bad weather
Setting sail upon the tide
Life or death I’ll be alive
As the wind lifts me high
Upon the mast that I fly
No grounded bird to always be
But on the wings of the free
The Poetry Book 