Under a slate- grey Warwickshire sky

I stand before the dead hedges I created

A buzzard circles overhead languid and sated

It has taken a year of toil honest and loyal

And I am proud to be part of this scheme of things

Many of my dreams were dreamed on this desolate spot

Eventually, this will be a haven of new life but, for now, a part of me here is forever lost.

Wild passion for you

ebbs, flows grows grows

yearning and yearning

aching and burning

Not though, expressed in full sentences

like….

Reading through a shopping list or an instruction manual

I find my self staring into space

Like a sailor at home after months at sea

If you were me what would you do----don't tell me I don't need you to---it won't help me

now

On the twentieth anniversary of John Lennon's death

I helped some children with severe learning difficulties

Put up their Christmas tree

There was laughter and joy

And I felt again like a little boy---not sure if I'd intrude if I joined in

I remembered exactly what I was doing when I heard that news twenty years ago

I shall remember this day too

The way God's love and energy flowed over me like a warm tropical breeze

Ending acrimony

Bringing peace

I found a card with my name on at the gift shop in Bunratty

It said, "Eamonn means happy protection--a cheerful man often whistling singing and dancing. Music is his passion and he glides through life looking on the bright side"

All this is true

-but I often think about

what my name ever meant to you.

The first time......I saw you sitting at the cafe in Birmingham New Street

The first time.......I took a walk with you

The first time.......I read a letter from you

The first time........I shared a meal with you

The first time........I saw you naked

The first time .......I watched you sleeping

The first time.......You made me laugh

The first time........You made me cry

The first time.........I fell in love with you

It's the last day of term

With so much left to learn

All the years that have turned

No more bridges to burn

And the silence you've earned is not quite what you’ve yearned

There's so much left to learn on the last day of term

Such a beautiful child with her eyes open wide

Ah you want her to be so free and so wild

And you whisper so clear and you hope that she hears

But she needs so much more as she heads for the door

And at quarter to ten when she's off with her friends

The wise women and men are forgotten again

As you hand in your keys and you pick up your bags

You'll never return-don't it make you feel sad

And to think what you've made of this strange way of life

And you choke back a tear and it cuts like a knife

On the last day of term with so much left to learn

All the years that have turned no more bridges to burn

And the silence you've earned is not quite what you've earned

There's so much left to learn on the last day of term.

So it's come to this--a last poem for you

A one broken promise to your two

The scene, rehearsed so many times for so long, becomes the start of another sad song

I see in you the school ma'am I pray you don't become

Controlled and severe--I could not help but lose my tongue--in the face of this

For your part, you probably thought the glass of Ballygowan was just for show

How I longed to show you once and for all that I conquered those demons---on my own

How I longed to touch you gently, on the face---and kiss away your fears

For your part too, your essential love and beauty came shining through

and I love you for that....even though you reduced me to a buffoon, on one knee, and attempting an inane ,neutral conversation....with you, dear, precious one

We part without a backward glance

Such senseless agendas

The lone Carrion Crow watches on like a 'B' Movie detective

As the pyre smolders

awaiting reward

from a price to be paid.

In the city we wait for the invitations

the overdue visit to Paddy's day parades

the craic with the Hanrahans, and walks on the strand.

Soon enough we'll see them

He reminded me so much of Robert Shaw in 'Jaws'

the windswept March instructor on the Chain saw course

A world apart though I was from guide bars and sprockets, depth gauges and 50/1

I remembered to gauge, without rage,

that I was here for the little Dunnocks and Bitterns ,Buzzards and Reed Warblers

and that the endless tinkering and dull male bonding had a purpose and scheme

not just a dream

Then I thought of you and how I wish we could swim in that odd, infinite zone,

more than friends, not yet lovers,

still able to deny the feelings growing stronger