Rule the World

Night swallows the misapprehensions of the day,
Monotony looms on either side,
With me the only shining light…

The drawn curtains stare down at the abyss,
Circling around the flickering glow,
I brighten the depths of the once bottomless pit…

Clarity of shadows reigns above,
The silence of everything else shrinks into the sky,
As the sound of my voice breaking rises…

Then the stars burst into life,
Beside a full moon laughing at the lives of mortals,
While also being a friend for the lonely to talk to…

Solidarity brings a strange significance,
Walking turns to running and then becomes skipping,
As things newly formed soak up the wet pavement…

Street lamps glow to show the way,
Destiny’s course is held as the winds stop,
Time ticks in this new present and I wonder…

Is this what it feels like to rule the world?


(I was listening to Viva la Vida by Coldplay a lot around this time)

Regardless of Everything

Two weeks that were only a distraction
Fade away with the freeze of winter,
To be replaced by a thickening haze,
The return of the constant pang in my head
And of the ceaseless rhythm of my heart;
Sleep is impossible to come by now,
I’m ever alert for no apparent reason,
Running on power that should have
Diminished long ago but hasn’t
Due to the feelings still living inside;
On those brief occasions that my eyes
Do shut and take me away from the real world,
I find myself in a place that replicates my conscience,
I can’t escape the truth,
And I can’t shape the circumstance to fit my needs;
Now my unused energy and frustration with everything build up,
Reaching breaking point in the cell of my home
And the prison of this county;
My mind is split in two, between what I want
And what I know is for the best,
For my feelings are too overbearing
To live with day in, day out;
Subjection to a barrage of x’s and meaningless messages
Is not what’s best for either of us,
Yet the mere thought of such messages
Sends me into a world of bliss,
A world I will never know;
This is both here and there,
Everything is relative at the end of it all,
And when the time comes,
The time when we are forced to part ways,
Whether we are friends or lovers,
We will smile and recognise each others’ souls
As having found its counterpoint in the other,
Regardless of what’s gone before
And regardless of what’s still to come…

Look

Look at the lone red car flanked by eight taxi plates on Eden Quay,
Look at the people marching on Leinster House,
Look at the men cleaning up the mess of the city,
Look at the queue stretching from Cumberland Street to the queue on Gardiner Street,
Look at Beaumont’s E&A room crowded with people who can’t get a bed,
Look at the rising houses that will never be filled,
Look at the rusting closed shutters lining either side of Abbey Street,
Look at the murky green surface of the River Liffey,
Look at the increasing number of men carrying home the morning shopping,
Look at ‘For Sale’ sign after ‘For Sale’ sign,
Look at the one 2009 license plate on the roads,
Look at regeneration and reformation in all the wrong places,
Look at the overcrowded pubs in Temple Bar,
Look at the youthful innocence spread throughout the clubs,
Look at the news and learn about more job losses in Waterford,
Look at the picketers abuse the scabs,
Look at all the drunken fights and spilled blood,
Look at the screaming woman and the cornered taxi driver,
Look at all the front rooms filled with people at midnight,
Look at the raised fists and hear the calls for change,
Look all around you…

And you can clearly see a country on its knees…

So

So permanence takes its horrid form,
So realisation makes an inevitable appearance,
So jealousy rears its ugly head,
So feelings begin their reluctant clearance,
So timing wreaks of poverty,
So hearts show their frailty,
So eyes attempt to defy emotion,
So everything ends in destiny,
So this way or that makes no difference,
So here or there make no time,
So now and never are no longer options,
So time proves it's simply divine,
So a screeching halt is called to proceedings,
So a sudden stop is forced on life’s path,
So a sad surrender is made to will,
So an attempt to retrieve is made in the aftermath,
So salvaging produces red shards,
So pieces are put back together again,
So falling apart is the sign of a new beginning,
So questions are asked, like ‘where and when’?

(written in Milan)

I Hope This Never Ends

Walking on clouds,
Home of the rising sun,
Moments past and present flicker in memory,
What’s to come hovers alongside;
A blanket laid out beneath us,
Glowing orange and red
(Matching the beating inside)
As I imagine yells that never existed,
‘Please come back home’;
Swirling turrets of my new found peace
Wisp and break at the slightest of touches,
The creaking of the past trying to invade
Disturbs thoughts and dreams otherwise futile;
And I close my eyes in false pretence,
Wishing for a sleep that will never come,
And I see my desires carved inside my eyelids,
The reality so harsh, yet so far away;
Underneath the layers of snow white mass
Rests the surface tension of the sea,
Where the truth lurks, waiting to strike;
And the clouds begin to part,
Revealing my destiny to all witnesses,
So I keep my eyes closed,
Reliving again and again a fantasy which defies reality,
And even as I fall to fate,
I hope this never ends…

And even as I crash into the sea…
I hope this never ends…


(written in Milan)