As twilight falls, each twilled field conjures you
They’re new, these reveries –
A forever tie, felt soul-deep
I knit you into all I see.
Jigsawed stone walls stand with years
Not budging. My bus journey
Further south spent peering out
Greeting gorse, horse, cows, house
I fear I’ve hurt you too much.
Would, if I could, curl into cloch
Be constant, a good strong stone
Pinned into place, purpose known
The world’s on pause, in snapshot
A thorny thicket, a turlough –
Only a lake on occasion
The constant change of nature
The way I used to change you
Amaze you, make you playful
But all of my stunts have sunk of late
Like stones flung, plunk, in a lake
But this! I smile at a lios –
A wild island in grass neatly clipped
Some things are sacred, can’t be touched
Only understood in the gut
I’m on the last bus on earth. It’s late
But the sky’s aglow and slow to fade.
My heart aches. Listen closely –
To me, you are holy.
By hand I wrote on my notebook’s flyleaf
“The price we pay for love is grief”
I dreamt once of a world without you
All the fields were empty.