Sean Joyce (17 April Everyear / Galway, Ireland)

Soon no poems of true or false
rumour, beauty or daft rages
Before the silence and the dark
just spittle on blank pages

Soon no walks by beach or bush
farewell to humane dignity
Before the silence and the dark
incontinence and blasphemy

Soon no fervent vision clear
Forsaken by youth’s potency
Before the silence and the dark
wasted work on lost ascendency

Soon no dialogue, no words
No happy shared transparencies
before the silence and the dark
short bemused soliloquies