Forever A Path (For Lynn) Poem by Dónall Dempsey

The scythe shone
in the sun

lapped at the whetstone
to sharpen its appetite

it sang
in my uncle's hands

swung through space & time

beholding thistles & nettles

I laughed
following at a careful distance

as the wilderness
fell before his step

& the easy
swung sung motion

of its shining

like a little God
bringing death & destruction

to the years
that had flowered
& flourished
into glorious weeds

beautiful in themselves.

Now the sky
& clouds

moved into the emptiness
created

opening
forever a path

into summer
& time.

* * * * * * *

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

The house
had been
asleep

but had awakened

startled out of its dreamings

by the sound of children’s feet
& the scrabble of voices.

The sunlight
had been dragged in

the open door

where it sat shyly
at table

partaking in
the little human’s

open enjoyment
of time

and what
it would bring

this newly
minted morning

this summer
of holy days.

* * * * * *


PICKING EGGS

The sun comes
& sits

at the end of the bench

nearest the door

strokes Sam
the collie.

It waits for me
to eat
my soldiers & boiled egg

that has just come
out of a hen

not so long ago

& which I gathered
in a basket

by myself.

'Picking eggs! '
I called it.

Milk cools
in a churn

I can smell
the top cream

from here

the big clock
ticks out big
tocks

Sam
whimpers in a dream

chasing the unseen

outside is summer
& a future

that stretches as far as
forever

& a present

that can never

...end.