When I was the ocean and you were the sky
You were liquid light on my dark horizon,
A flight of birds in my cold dawn.
And in the tumult of my passion
You were the celestial orbit
Making love of this urgent tide.
I was but the tempera’d emulsion
Reflecting your million hues,
A deep cerulean tapestry
Woven from your silken rays.
When I was the ocean and you were the sky
We were spiritual lovers on cathedral waves,
Spectral lovers in water and light,
Embracing as rainbows in the crystal spray,

My brother and I captured insects
to watch them squirm on the tin cellar door.
A merciless ordeal in the humid summer heat.
A cruelty of young boys I’m still trying to forgive.

Down in the cellar, were dust-covered shelves
lined with jars of fruits and vegetables of all kinds.
The dark and the dust and the musty smell
fired our imaginations. Instead, we saw shrunken heads,
creatures, goblins, and frights of all kinds
desperate to escape from their green glass prisons.

The corn was crowned with flowers,
The supper all was spread
On tables rough that filled the barn,
All round was beer in kegs.

The harvest safely gathered,
The puncheon was all supped,
The labourers was gathered:
Carters, Shepherds, and such.

The Blacksmith and the Carpenters,
Apprentice boys as well,
All who had helped with the harvest
Were welcome, the throng to swell.

The farmers wife was busy
Helped by many hands,
To set the harvest supper:
Beef, Mutton, Plum Pudding, Ham.

After mammy died, my brother wasn't my brother.
He crawled inside himself, but never found her.
The demons left him in the dark. The drugs worked.
The highs eased his mourning,
The lows crippled him,
belly on the ground, a beaten dog.

He grew secretive, withdrawn, those glassy eyes,
staring, unable to communicate, without substances.
He had to be left alone, as his shattered mind,
consumed him,
by seconds, minutes, hours.

MOODY

How is it, that being happy is not yoU
All of the time, you need cheering uP
Perhaps, if I were to worry a little lesS
Potentially I might even see that smilE
Yet you enjoy showing you are upseT

Stars form our accents,
Constellations spell our names,
Love's script is divine.

What if the pain throbbing in your chest
Is a prelude to something far greater
What each twist of the knife of failure
Becomes your passion's activator

What if the tears covering your face
Aren't intended your joy to abstain
What if the sting you feel is a spark
To ignite the fire coursing in your veins

The moment you fall a thousand times
When you're ready to give in and stop
Could be the moment you beat the odds
Could be the moment you reach the top