Reflections(For Rolf on his 60th. Birthday)I grow old thinking in pools slow refractions of the past Narcissus-like cursed by Nemesis for pridehaunted by Echo Ovid, Metamorphosiseslike an old songthat wont stop going roundand round in my headTall and tan Boy from Ipanema and young and handsomeAhh! when he walks to the seaDreaming how Lorca seesthe…
The Road to Emmaus(after Luke 24 v.13) “For Christ plays in ten thousand places,Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not hisTo the Father through the features of men’s faces.’Gerard Manley Hopkins, from “As kingfisher’s catch fire”. Why go to Emmauswhy go on such a disturbing dayfull of that sense of loss and idle talesEmmaus…
“Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, Pale in her anger, washes all the air, That rheumatic diseases do abound. And thorough this distemperature we see The seasons alter…the spring, the summer, The childing autumn, angry winter, change Their wonted liveries; and the mazed world, By their increase, now knows not which is which. And…
Mary O’Malley’s poem is in an anthology of poems “A Different Eden: Ecopoetry from Ireland and Galicia”, in a section of the book called: “When we were not the centre of the universe”. I liked the poem, especially as it was read to me by Lorna Shaughnessy (see her latest collection of poems: “Lark Water”,…
Boundary Wall “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”. “He moves in darkness as it seems to me.” Robert Frost, Mending Wall. My neighbour calls to ask my time To inspect the wall That runs between his house and mine. I follow his bent back, Behind which tight-clasped, His hands are counter-weight It seems…
Song for Joe Nora had not been dead long when her cottagewas burned downHer net curtains at the small windows stillthe sacred heart of Jesus on the walllooking downThe charred reed fell but the walls stillwithstood the wind somewhatThe fireplace and the chimney tower remainedwith ash and beech growing from out the roofThe heart on…
Atlantic Depression (After Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18)”Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?…Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May”(Sonnet 18, William Shakespeare.)Hawthorns show white May budsjust opening in our eyeswe try the walk before the threatened galeyou anxious to make photos with your phone…a field of daisies lie like a March frostyou take…
Being the Bulb Planted in the Autumn Being the bulb planted in the Autumn inserting the planter cutting out the core of turf placing the small bulb in the pit of the dug out earth fill it in with the rotted compost mixed with leaf-mould and clay Treading it all in with my booted foot…
Bone People Bone People “E nga iwi o nga iwi” (O the people of the bones) Keri Hulme, “The Bone People” 1984 “proximity can create transformation”, Ocean Vuong. Flat on our backs we become aware of breath feeling the body parts that are touching the mat Heel pelvis…
William’s reply to my first blog with this title inspired me to say a little more about my approach to Yoga and Meditation. This is a very personal point of view and probably diverges from strict Yoga teachings. Meditation too, for me, has to be almost tailor made to the individual, as Sister Ishpriya says,…
The Hug of Gaia 