Posts in category Uncategorized
Can We Help Ourselves If We Lose Fai...
Can we help ourselves if we lose faith?
We, who the evil in the world see,
Small nations being crushed by the great
The guilty often staying free,
Evil capitalism getting stronger,
One workers gain being another’s loss,
The suffering of the hungry and the poor
It seems as if God gives not a toss…
If that was so, how was Hitler ove [...]
To Have Love is to Have the World
To have love is to have the world
By some men it is said
But what when you lose it
And the passion is dead
And yet the person you desire
Is all but dead to you
You have the world but not your beloved
What then do you do?
So he is poor man who has it
His heart open unfurled
And believes that it is true
To have love is to have the world…
[...]
Are Both One Blood?
Berber Sands in the Pre Sahara
A tour guide told us of a legend among the Arabs that the Berber people at one time and the Celts were one folk.
I assumed it a tale for the foreignors, but on talking to a taxi driver who mentioned an event 2900 years ago, I decided to research it better.
Breogán; statue in A Coruña
The Celtic legend of [...]
The World Is Dying
The world is dying, they wail, and we don’t listen…
It’s the ozone layer… we’ll have none in twenty years,
We watch in wonder as they foretell our doom,
And our leaders seem to cry crocodile tears.
We know not is it true or is it false,
Or is it as bad as they say it will be,
Oh, the fanaticism and fury of the ecologists,
Though i [...]
The Mole of Liverpool
Williams Tunnel
Joe Williamson 1770 – 1840
- Creator of the Liverpool Tunnels
Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool England
From article in Ireland’s Own
magazine about the “Mole of
Liverpool” by John D. Vose
From poor beginnings of Irish stock
Like many a man since and before
He married his bosses daughter
Owning the small [...]
Blog – Savita Praveen Halappana...
At first glance, issues surrounding the tragic death of Savita Praveen have nothing to do with poets or poetry, but on closer inspection, writers being the conscience of society and the chroniclers of history do have a duty to speak on the issue of the time – abortion in this case - as they see it.
Savita Praveen, as I understand even [...]
Cats – Mankinds Marmite Pets
Some love the cats, yet others fear
Say spirits evil dwell within
The cat, she to them does appear
Personification of sin
Impurity, selfishness, ill
The cat silent she slinks about
Sneaky, a slave to her own will
Filth she licks to clean with her mouth
Head rubbing’s friendships offered not
Is a sign you to her belong
That’s thei [...]
Written Beside a Stone to Paul Smith
Offices across the canal from Charlemont Street in Dublin. Photo Tomas O Carthaigh (c)2010
Opposite this stone he lived it says
Of him I have not read before
Opposite the canalbanks where I sit, but behind
On hinge, was his hall door
Beside the Canal at Charlemeont Street
New offices shining stand
What contrast: the ruined economy of today
An [...]
Kilmainhams Gaol Gates
Today we walk without a care
Within these gates, once where
Men of honour, dishonour and poverty there
Served their sentences when tried.
The hungry poor for begging and stealing
Or in the oldest profession dealing
Were imprisoned without feeling
As harsh punishments were applied.
And then Rebellion leaders came
And some treated their own re [...]
Old Woman on a Train to Faro
An old woman on a train to Faro
Sits opposite, and does not smile
Or speak, or acknowledge I am there
Just sits, and looks away while
I opposite sit, sometimes dozing
As along the train it speeds
From Lisbon down to Faro
As if powered by magic steeds.
Dressed in black and worn with age
She’s like from another time
I wonder of the life s [...]
Treat People Like People
When you see another as the enemy
That is what he will be for you
And his children for our children
Shall see each other that way too
If you treat people like people
Hatred and suspicions shall end
And the other will be a person
And you who treated them so maybe a friend…
Remember, the only ones who see all others as enemies
It is the b [...]
Verses Written Before Going to Birr
I said that I would write a poem today
On what? I do not know
Before pen and paper I put away
And off to Birr I go.
And so quick and short stanzas here I write
Upon nothing at all
Poetic equivalent of graffiti
Scrawled big upon a wall
Perhaps when I return back here from town
And all is quiet and still
The great epic poem that I seek to write [...]
Walking in Rain on O’ Connell S...
In teeming rain I walk the street
As the clouds drench all beneath
And through my runners the rain soaks my feet
To my bus I run
Faceless people in the town tonight
Shall sleep on the sodden streets as is their right
And I shall be dry, ignorant of their plight
Sleeping, or having fun.
A faceless person I hope never to be
Without power bills [...]
Flying Over Europe
Flying over cities and towns
I look and think it insane
This is what was seen by the pilot
Of every bomber plane
Allied and Axis that over flew
Houses, homes, alleys and roads
Town after town of defenseless people
Before the dropped their loads
Of bombs, that caused destruction
For that is how a war is won
He who kills is a hero
A thousand de [...]
Lianhan Shee
Man, turn your face from the Lianhan Shee
Fall not for her, though fair be her charms
It will bring you death, say the Pavee
Should you take her in your arms…
Fair she is – a maiden fine
Lakeen fairer rarely seen
To Tír na nÓg she’ll take you man
To where many before you have been.
He who desires her, will her alone love
An [...]
As Pilgrims
As pilgrims in life we walk alone
Sins committing for which we later atone
Some we confess, other up to which we dont own
But confess to our God without speaking.
As pilgrims we move in life together
Storms we cause, and storms caused by others we weather
For life is a wind, and man but a feather
That a place of peace on the ground is seeking [...]
Poison Dwells in the Best of Hearts
Poison dwells in the best of hearts
In the purest of the pure
Hatred exists for someonme somewhere
Of that we can be sure
It tells who really is man
Who turns away when hatred does beck
He is the one who is pure
For he holds his hatred in check.
He with much less venom
But who is not content
Until he spreads his poison
Against those of whom i [...]
She Removes The Mask She Wears
Read this poem in French
She removes the mask that to the world she wears
Behind which she hides all her cares
For she fears the judgmental stares
Should she be seen as weak
And falling away are the other faces
She wears in the other places
As she adjusts to fit in the labels spaces
For acceptance is all she does seek
Mother, worker, boss a [...]
Stolen Pages Show Beauty to the Thief
Patti Smyth discovered the French poet Rimbaud
after shoplifting a copy of his book first published
in 1875. Others of us just buy books…
Stolen pages show beauty to the thief
Of images captured in such a way
That they would inspire long after were read
And that others would hear someday
That the work was discovered when was opened
A bo [...]
Poetry Social – “Life Is ...
Poetry Social – “Life Is Too Short For Spellcheck” – Share on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
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No Phone to Ring
No phone to ring or anything
To disturb my reverie
A weekend down in Galway
For none to please but me.
Yes, mobile phones are brilliant
Helps us make sure were not lost
When lifes churning seas mean other routes
We follow in life and are tossed…
They help us discover
That to cope from day to day
No matter where we are
A friend is not fa [...]
Lines Written at the Pura Vida Coffee...
No, they have no Turkish Coffee
Will Puerto Rican do?
And Apple tart? Why, yes it will!
And I sit in full view
As the cooling winds of evening
Calm the dying hours of the day
And drunken men and women
Past me make their way.
This is Galway in the Summer
A throbbing heartbeat of life and joy
And the trials of life is a young girls tears
As she [...]
Butterfly – She Flitted And Set...
Butterfly long flown, now settled
Tears I fight, happy her flight
Brought her to this – tears of loss
That is my own, blame also!
He who stays silent of his love
Shall live to see another win hers
And rue his silence.
But it is a day to be happy!
For to love truly is to be happy -
At the happiness of those you adored…
And move on [...]
Swept Away the Heathens Shall Be
Signor Pastorini was the cover name for the
English cleric Bishop Charles Walmesbuy(?)
who predicted that the Protestants, who he called
“locusts” would be swept away by 1825.
“Protestant locusts will be swept away by 1825″
- Pastor Signorini
Swept away the hethen shall be
Avenged by God for thinking free
For the blasp [...]
The King in All But Name
Now in slumbers beneath the earth
For now, finished his life,
The son, deceased, of Ireland
No words now come from his mouth
But we will tell our children
Of Parnell, the story we’ll tell
The king in everything but name
Of the nation of the Gael.
This poem in Irish >>>
var O [...]
Een Minstreel Als Een Mees
De natuur zingt van geluk,
De mees zingt als minstreel,
Hij viert elke dag of die nu is
In zijn voor- of nadeel.
Laten wij zijn als de mees,
Op dagen kort en lang,
Voor- en nadeel, prettig of koud,
Laat ons starten met gezang.
“Be a Bard Like a Bird” translated to Dutch by Jan Pallas
She Was a Dandelion Seed in the Wind
Once upon a time in a garden
There was a seed that the wind blew
Dancing, like a ballerina in the air
Up and down and round it threw
In a dance that was enchanting
The parachuted passenger seed of dandelion
In the flamenco passion of the wind
Looking like a creation devine
And chance would tell where it lay
And time would tell where it grew
[...]
The Tortoise and the Hippopotamus
A tortoise and a hippopotamus
What a strange looking pair
In a refuge for animals
Found a friendship there
A baby hippoptamus
And a tortiose a century old
Are friends as if of each others species,
Or so the story is told.
Nature has its strange ways
For its orphans caring
When the Tsunami took its mother
The tortoise came for caring
If we hea [...]
Un Cielo Aperto e un Sole Brillante
This poem in English
Un cielo aperto e un sole brillante
E non una nuvola in vista
Sono solo un’immagine su una cartolina
di qualche posto in cui sono stato
Poiché osservo la pioggia fuori
Che non sembra mai cessare
A che pro il buon tempo, chiedo
Se la gente non conosce la pace?
Translation to Italian by Alice Bracchi
