If Moments Could Be Framed Poem by Seán O Muiríosa

If moments could be framed I’d frame this one:

Rural pub, two friends inside
Sitting at a small freshly wiped table
Two pints, half drank lying there;

Moments of deep conversation and
A sudden unexpected new revelation
Sees glass held half-tilted to mouth,

Eyes wide, then put to the table
And laughter jolts as the tale unfolds,
Two old men smile on from the counter.

A barman leans forward to them smilingly
As if to say, ‘ah, young fellas.’
A look of a memory, something cyclical.

A dizzying look like the swirling
Of the dark stuff around the glass
‘til full to the round rim.

A passing flash, dazzling flourish
In the blacks of his eyes: in some old box
Somewhere it lies, dusty and cracked, but framed.

The place has served a purpose
And the talking’s done
The two boys up and leave to return

To the things that are learned from
In the village bar on a warm night
In January where all’s as it seems.