Leave me alone
(A poem about an overpowering nurse)
Don’t brush my hair
Don’t pat my head,
Don’t tuck me in tonight in bed.
Don’t ask if I want a sweet,
Don’t fix my favourite thing to eat.
Don’t give me lots of good advice,
‘Cos most of it just won’t be nice.
And when I wallow well in sorrow,
Be nice to me again tomorrow.
By Joseph Sherlock

Connected by beauty
Dearest One,
You passed my bedroom window
In the flight of a winter bird,
The lightest whisper
Across my immediate landscape,
Your shape described
By an elegant, speckled-brown movement.

Snowflakes fall
Making fresh music with the air
Forming a delicate dance,
Some ushered by the wind
To a skater’s glide,
Others parachuting
In a patterned freedom.

Nature is offering
Her magical surprises,
Partnering my awareness
In a palette of love.
Connected by Beauty
I take your hand
For this heavenly, morning waltz.
By Ali Fisher

Birdsong in Joy Street
On a bright June evening
birds sing in Joy Street,
mix sweet sounds
with noisy clampers as
men from two vans
place yellow shovels
on the front wheels
of cars without parking
tickets on display.
The air is clean
after a heavy downpour.
I rush to make Eurospar
before closing time, meet
young mothers pushing
prams with babies
after a short walk
around the park
at South Dock Street.
It is the space
where birds hide,
build nests, lay eggs,
have young chicks
and today fill
Joy Street with Bird song.
By Mary Guckian

Southwesterly
The South westerly blowing, over Ireland today
Plays with the sand on Galway Bay
Excites the waves; rocks the boats;
Whistle through trees Calypso notes

“I’m an old, old wind,” she says
“I’ve carried your warm gulf stream
He and I are a Perfect Team
I’m here to stay

‘Garnish Island’ we swaddle
In a humid embrace
Opening the flowers
Greening up the place
I’m here to stay

I’m not sharp like a knife
But balmy and soft
I bring a light breeze from the sunny south
I’m here to stay.”
By Carmel McCarthy

Sunshine
Warm sunshine invades the darkness of the day,
Threatens to alleviate my pain,
Tries to see past the surge of tears,
To make me smile again.

It glints deviously through the car window,
I feel it on my skin,
It pushes, rushes, persists,
Begs to be let in.

I stubbornly attempt to ignore it,
To wallow in my grief;
To live and feel and breathe the hurt,
To contest my fading belief.

But your face comes determinedly into view,
Thundering through the cloud,
Your smile so warm, infectious,
Your voice so clear and loud.

I see your smiling eyes
As I did the day you walked away,
I hear you as I did back then
When you left me on that day.

You walked forth without a backward glance,
We never said goodbye;
And in my shattered heart
I wonder If you question how or why?

Broken hearts stroll round me aimlessly,
Oblivious to my tears it seems,
Each succumbing to their misery,
Mourning lost hopes and dreams.

My journey is a short one,
but a significant step for me,
the day we finally come face to face,
the nearest I can be.

I wear no mask, no facade,
There’s no show behind the smile;
Just a broken pitiful inconsolable friend
Who visits for a while.

It pains me to see your name,
Inscribed in cold hard stone,
I weep when I see your body,
When I think of you, alone.

I gently place red roses on your grave,
Bright and fresh and new,
And ponder for a moment
In memory of you.
By Audrey Healy

I switched on the light
I switched on the light
In the darkened room of my existence.
Powerful, life-enhancing words tumbled forth,
Cascading like a refreshing, mountainside waterfall,
Cleansing my emotional wasteland.
Negativity dissolved like a soluble substance
On the tongue of my speaking,
Translating into a new language
For the expression
Of the progression
Of my awareness.
By Ali Fisher

A face in the crowd
I walk the busy crazy streets
Where you sat so forlorn
Places where we used to meet
A lost lonely figure alone

A face in the crowd
But you didn’t cast me a glance
I called your name aloud
And I lost my chance

Don’t know if it was real
Was it really you
Or just a younger one
Could life be that cruel

Today’s streets are empty
Coffee shops are bare
But still I search for you
Believe I’ll find you there

Head bowed as though in prayer
Hands clasped around hot drink
An hour to yourself
To ponder and to think

Still I struggle on and I fight the urge
To cast my fingers over the phone
‘Cos your silence tells me all it must
I think you want to be alone

So much to say and talk about
But don’t know where to start
How about this crazy situation
And the beating of my heart.
By Audrey Healy

The colours in my rainbow
The colours in my rainbow
The sweetness in my life
The hero in my dreams
You take away the trouble and the strife

You are the victory over battles
You have fought and won the war
You are the one you brought me here
I could not have come this far

You are the one who raised me
On a pedestal so high
You are the one who made me go on
Saved me from saying goodbye

You were my first and last
The one who keeps me standing tall
The one who breaks down barriers
You make me unafraid to fall

You are the one who keeps me safe
Cocooned in a heart so warm
I know I can rest easy
Safe and free from harm
By Audrey Healy

Springtime
Again, it is spring
in the garden outside my flat;
flowers forcing their colours
above ground,
remind me that in nature,
there still remains
a world of mystery

despite
marvellous inventions
space travel
and new technology.
By Mary Guickian

As always, we welcome contributions to
The Poetry Place, which can be sent to the
‘NewsFour’ offices at 15 Fitzwilliam Street,
Ringsend, Dublin 4.