TALAMH.

 
 
 Land, first born of the first born,

Here before us, here without us, alone.

The ancient eye of landscape watched our coming

patiently, through pebble, boulder and stone.

Land gave us whereness and temporary roots,

Foundation for our frailty and need,

In return we gave her rape, ruin and pillage

To power our engine of greed.

Mother of meteor, father of fossil,

Vulnerable to religion’s daughter,

Silent parchment of all commandments,

Her message is ferried by breeze and water.

Rock and mountain, grain of sand,

Ledge and ravine has soul.

Intruder man knows lesser Gods,

Lesser than her grounded mole.

What is ‘here’ or ‘there’ without the land?

Where is home and away?

Every place is where she leaves us,

Allows us to come or stay.

Birds and beasts her allies,

Seas and mountains her stores,

Trees and rivers her jewels,

Etna and Vesuvius her pores.

Man, an earthen vessel himself,

Self proclaimed Lord of all,

Stone, the ultimate conclusion,

Certainty, the coming of another fall.

Ever changing skin of vegetation and colour

Every heartbeat an ever filling glass,

Earth, mantle of our useless bones,

Secure in the knowledge, ‘these too will pass’.

 

(Talamh is the Irish word for earth or ground. The only truly solid element)

 

 

UISCE

Water, liquefied air grounded by gravity 

Far greater Leveller than even Shirley’s Death,
Dew in the morning, fog in the evening,
Translucent halo of angel’s breath.
Binding member of eternal elements,
Ancient conversations with the stone,
Tears of the earth, border of life and death
Life that can live alone.
 
 
At the wedding feast of Cana
The host was mute and hushed,
Then the humble water met the Lords gaze
And the humble water blushed.
Since baptism in Jordan’s river,
Since Ararat of two by two, 
There’s no will but the water’s will
The white swell and the blue.

 

The well connects the darkness and the light,
The seaside ties the water to the land,
The river joins the country and the ocean
And rain provides the life in everyman.
Ice, the surgeon with eternal scalpel
Carved each valley, glacier, river bed,
Elusive mist, cloak of every mountain,
Snow, a scarf for headstones of our dead.
 

 

Water, first mirror of the universe,
Never strays outside its own desire,
Tide, slave mistress of the moon,
Diviner of thirst; of flame, a sole defier.
The first swim of this life
In amniotic whirlpool of the womb,
The last swim of this life
In all embracing moisture of the tomb.

 

Uisce, (Irish word for water) is the most obviously visible

of all the Classic elements. Treasured more than its brothers
and sisters it is widely regarded as the source of all life.
But it cannot work in isolation!

TINE

The Gods, in playful mood
Snipped a forelock from the Sun,
And Prometheus in turn
Stole this Fire for everyone.
In the name of the Fire
the Sun and the Stars
This forever flame
Borrowed it's colour from Mars.

This fire got life from friction
As does every living thing,
From flash, flame and flicker
The cricket learned to sing.
Fire conspires with air
To bring liquid flame alive,
Yet still the mystery remains
Why only the pure survive.

And man believes in control
Of this element for himself
In forge and kiln and stove,
Red matches on the shelf.
The stake; democracy of fire
Invented by soul-savers
Not to lead better lives
But be owned by soul-slavers.

This fire produces Light
Frail shadow of the Dark,
Impatient fire never still
Using every spark
To brighten conversation
At the hearth of every grate.
Shape-changing theatre of tale,
Matter into nothing; nothing matters; too late.


Tine (Irish word for fire) is perhaps the most feared of the elements
and therefore deserves maximum respect.


  

AER

Air, home of the spirits,

Breath of God.
Kinetic sculptor of all shape,
Defining master of sea and sod.
Air, benefactor of all bellows,
Human, and made by hand,
Shaping a wraith of cloud,
Polishing a grain of sand.

Air, ferries life to each of us

And randomly takes it away,
She lends form to the dance
Gives voice its say.
Air, great runway of the heavens,
Gives grounding to earthly aspirations,
Sounds the death knell of ones
And twos and all passing nations.

Air in singular majesty
Decides what might be,
Syllable, phrase or sentence
Or page of history.
Air of contract and expand,
Accordion never still,
Stroked by invisible fingers
Tuned by ethereal will.

Air, lavish larder of countless scents,

Home of myriad memories and dreams,
Unseen guardian of mists and moisture
Eternal proof of all is not what it seems.
Air, life source of every flame,
Greater than gravity your power,
Ferryman of dark and light
Pendulum of every hour.


AER (Irish for Air) is everything and deserves to be revisited.


 

My Father Said

‘You’ll never miss the water till the well runs dry’

Me father said; now he’s dead,
And she said Goodbye!
When you turn down the radio at eleven
She started reading at seven,but
Not even in the house; ask why.
 

How come you can’t see her back when she leaves?

Only her face and front
And that top that she bought in Dunnes,
Gone to that big shiny aeroplane
Never had ambitions to go down the drain
She liked ‘Spotted Dick’ and penny buns.
 
Longest legs I ever saw from ground to ceiling rising
Going everywhere and nowhere baby
Sometime walk back maybe, perhaps.
She said I was a total absolute ballhooks
With not a chance of changin’
Nobody perfect; maybe Chinese or Japs?
 
She’s gone but still here wreckin’ my distracted head,
Musk scent of her still in the bed
She’s here even though she went.
It was time; she needed the space and the place
And Emma’s grace; my father said
‘You always see better value when your money is spent.
 
Now we talk every day, sun and hay, and she says ‘whatsUp’
Nothing at this end, same good story
Of me and the Jap and buttery bread.
To know what she’s feelin’ or thinkin’ or wantin’,
Maybe my father was right a long time ago
‘girls are like dolls for playing with' he said.