Last impressions

  Walking into the twilight Walking into the twilight Along Dun Leary pier Looking back to the mountains Where the orange sun has set.  Ambling in slow peace beneath A pinkish sky towards Howth Above the stilly waters Within strong harbor walls.  The lightest breeze is skimming The silver dimpled surface The tide is nearly out Below the seagulls shout.  Dun Leary piers stand proudly Against a twilight sky The office lights are shining The time to leave is nigh.  A plane flies overhead Its plume a golden pink The town square bell is chiming Announcing a daylight bleeding.  The gulls are silent mostly Floating on still water Their bed tonight is cold As we approach December.  The silence barely broken By a solitary call The harbor traps last rays Of a sunny Autumn day.  The yellow becomes more vibrant Just as the daylight fails The kidnapped colors sink Beneath the gentle waves. 

  Our greatest hope Our greatest hope is that some survive Escape this century with duck and dive Few in number, a ragged bunch Who outlive man’s madness and nature’s anger.  Older but wiser, fewer but leaner  Unwilling to repeat the pattern That brought us destruction and terror Beyond our wildest nightmare.  One day we woke, nature had turned And called a day on wasteful man Unleashed the terrors of the Bible Man and nature in a perfect storm.  Luck intervened like often  before And saved a few in lands remote In third world countries in deep ravines Whole cities perished before our eyes.  Lucky those who perished first Blessed are those who didn’t linger Nowhere safe and no one spared No one awake for no one cared.  Deep in the forests of Borneo Cave dwellers carry right on A Stone Age life that hasn’t changed Five thousand years and counting.  Life is funny in that way Creation’s sense of humor  Those who survive, the least of us The...

  Even Elon   Even Elon could not save the world He said our future’s in the stars How would you like to live on Mars? Til the batteries fail just like his cars.  These pioneers adrift in space Clutching Bitcoin in fond embrace  No savior then in currency At least they tried but badly failed.  The nuclear war was started by mistake By some young rookie in Wyoming He pressed a switch and all went dark He never made it home that night.  The planet blue turned black With nuclear storms alas Nothing escaped - no one survived Not even lizards in the desert.  Will mutated life spring forth again? Does God think it’s worth the bother? He’s put on his coat, he’s left the room  He’s moving to another planet.  Don’t blame God for mankind’s mess There’s just so much that God could do He set it up for us to win He hadn’t thought of stubborn sin.  What to do or what to say? But seize the day and make the hay We’re but tiny pawns in a game of chance W...

  Trump has won Trump has won and you have lost Who believed in better angels How innocent to think that folks  Would choose the higher path.  The US voter cast his vote The road ahead now leads to hell A hell they think is for the rest But hell’s flame has no favourites.  A noble experiment has been vanquished  Two hundred years of law and order The orange leader breaks the law Choosing    chaos over order.  Women of New York Weep not for me But for your children  And for your barren land.  Was it too much to hope The US might be the exception To all the Empires that have crumbled Ozymandias  sneaks a knowing smile.  Tumbling down they come Rotten from the centre Destroyed all by themselves To the amusement of their enemies.  As for God, - he’s gone Seven billion years ago But the devil’s here instead  Living round the corner. 

  Kevin Andrew 1920/80 Kevin was but four when his father died The youngest of five in Carlow town Raised in a sweet shop known all around The Murray shopfront in black and gold.  He played rugby for his county And his cap still retains It’s faded tassels also black and gold Faded photos of the twenty year old The Second World War passed Ireland by Both Kevin and Lily led protected lives Living over shops with rations scarce The ‘Emergency’ sailed slowly by.  Buried in the files of Bord na Mona One of the very first of its early crew In the early forties of rural Ireland Visiting desolate bogs on cold hillsides.  The law insisted that every bog Should be inspected however hopeless However distant from production He met each turf farmer on his holding.  Cycling the mountains above Sligo town Bicycles, motor bikes and cars Captured in grainy old photos  A black and white dog atop the handles.  His not so humble digs the Imperial Hotel Round the corner fr...