North Sea

Drove 200 miles along the Northern Sea
Gusts buffet the car; pennywhistle in the wind
A throatless ancient melody
Feel so far gone because I’ve gone so far in
Torr Head Road, see God in the mist
Trapped in a crevice
While the birds fly out to nowhere
Mocking us fly
"Cast a cold eye
On life, on death
Horseman, pass by."
The rising sun
Blue Stack Mountains
A walk in the country: potatoes, wine, bread
A hundred border crossings, families torn by warring
Individual or collectivеly; how rare is harmony

I feel your breath in my dreams
You hum, I shivеr
My words are changed, lost in the fog
How can I embellish this?
Words warble, phrases orbit the feeling
I can’t get it right, I can’t write the real thing
No, you’re not wrong
Who am I to say you are wrong?
But you might be wrong
Across palm, across page
Across Goya, across the Seine
Across Confucius, across Mencius
Across boats, across paddles
Across centuries, across memories
Action, solidarity, will
Bombs, and wreckage spill
She’s alone crying into the phone
Crying into the phone
Shaking and alone
Reaping what’s been sown
My friend, dry whisky, the pain
Doesn’t go but fades
As I sigh and recline
In your cool forgetful shade
It’s a limited view from this perch
We half-heartedly search
And still return out of breath
Flying twigs of truth to our nest

I didn’t understand it then
But I get it now, I get it now
How a man with no teeth can smile
A woman with no future can work
A fortunate prince can lose the world
Best friends can scratch out oaths
How the girl can lose the boy
And how the boy can lose the girl