CV

[dedalus]

Fool that I am,

sitting down behind

this harbour wall, watching

the waves come washing down,

washing down from the wide Pacific ...

I know this is not my sea.

I belong to a different ocean.

I belong to another place,

another time, another race,

and to moments,

cherished

among ancient stones

in a city I know and love

where the bones of my people are buried.

 

I was so young and foolish

in those mad frenetic times

a willing conspirator in wild escapades.

 

My parents despaired of me,

such grief I caused them!

 

I did so many stupid things

but I did not die. I should have died

seven times over. In Afghanistan

or Pakistan, pretty close in Guatemala,

quite apart from those bullets in Belfast.

 

Home territory doesn't really count,

not with the lRA boys so casual.

 

I take no pride in survival.

I was a total fuckin idiot, I was lucky.

Now I am a person of certain repute

in Japan. Such a good chap, in fact, that

citizens greet me in the street!

 

Such a brilliant career, so much

money out the yin-yang.

You try to calm down as time goes by

but you don’t, really.

[tonyv]

Autobiographical? The first verse is especially lovely:

 

... I know this is not my sea.

I belong to a different ocean.

I belong to another place,

another time, another race,

and to moments,

cherished

among ancient stones

in a city I know and love

where the bones of my people are buried ...

 

A poem in itself.

 

Tony

[Tinker]

Oooooh, Brendan, I love this. It seems so honest. It touched me because I felt a longing and yet I think there is peace and acceptance and even love in the end. The conflict resolved yet not, which is so true to life. It stirs the emotions and that is what poetry is supposed to do. Great writing.

 

~~Tink

[Larsen M. Callirhoe]

i agree with tony and tinker, i had a great childhood full of many filled spoiled days. i guess because my adult live has been filled with medical nightmares etc... good to see you retrospect autobiographicallyso to speak. what tony highlighted is poetry. much enjoyed.

 

victor