Melbourne Poem by Ciarán Kelly

A silent chanter
sits in its silver case,
the year of the piper
is put on hold,
all nations weave about town,
affluent and bronzed.

A cathedral mirage
miraculously disappears,
a Peruvian air
on the panpipes soars,
Our resolve is tested.

In the Max café,
little empires are expanded,
while drinking Annie's Lane,
the guitar man strikes
a personal chord.

From Auburn to Laburnum,
a lady knits a chair cover,
her great-grandparents
transplanted from
famine Cork and Kerry.

Two whistlers play a planxty tune,
In the high noon heat
the lagerphone pulsates,
with a stitched up bodhrán it altercates,
Healing the wounds of
An Unforgotten Culture.

March 2007