At the End - by
When my last song is finished,
/ And my heart has lost its fire,
/ When passion is diminished,
/ And dead is all desire,
/ I pray…
dying
Sala de Esperanza - by
The sign on the hospital wall
/ identifying the space
/ begins with a Spanish phrase—
/ sala de espera,
/ waiting room.
/
/ A more symbolic phrase
/ may have deeper…
from At Maldon - by
Waves beating up against cliffs.
/ Cliffs holding hard against waves.
/
/ …
Visiting Hour - by
The hospital smell
/ combs my nostrils
/ as they go bobbing along
/ green and yellow corridors.
/
/ What seems a corpse
/ is trundled into a lift and…
Memorial - by
Everywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies.
/ No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain
/ but has her death in…
Bucket - by
Phrases for the end are throwaway.
/ ‘Drop off your twig.’
/ I quite like that –
/ cock an eye at heaven in…
1936 - by
Oh Lorca, did skeletons show
/ gold teeth to you
/
/ when men held you down
/ in their terrible passion,
/
/ thrust the rifle deep in your…
The Death of Old Men - by
Old Henri is dying.
/ Children play tag in the dust.
/ And we, whose world is next,
/ sit with him under the tree
/ and watch…
It Was Like This: You Were Happy - by
It was like this:
/ you were happy, then you were sad,
/ then happy again, then not.
/
/ It went on.
/ You were innocent or you…
Tilleadh bhon a’ bhas - by
Nuair a thàinig mi air ais bhon a’ bhàs
/ bha a’ mhadainn ann,
/ bha an doras-cùil fosgailte,
/ is bha putan dhe na bha…
Requiem - by
Under the wide and starry sky,
/ Dig the grave and let me die.
/ Glad did I live and gladly die,
/ …
Above Daldowie, 1990 - by
Gran is a bird.
/
/ Ten years it took
/ for the dragging flesh to dissolve
/ and the bones to grow thin and light.
/
/ Her hands…