Split Second Movements Of The Soul Poem by Seán O Muiríosa

I’m always just one second away
From breaking loose.
Who would have thought it?
No, surely not your good young self!
But the reality is that –
Only one second away at any time.
When the morning sun breaks
Through the thorny twigs of the ditch
And you hear their crackle,
It could happen then.
When the snowy February air
Threatens to blast, I feel its icy force,
Like a thundering black cloud
Approaching our hills,
This moment could reasonably
Host my crumbling.
When the buds tremble
With fear of the approaching black frost –
That coldness is the death
Of the soul of someone somewhere,
Just one solitary split second more
And I may be with them.
When you wake in the warm bed
Of Monday then realise your late –
It’s like an entire icecap melting
All at once – imagine that!
But I hold out with a deep breath
And a flicker of a secret message
That’s meant only for me
With the fiery glance of her eyes.
That I’m granted, and once again,
All gone in one shudder.
We’ll start again tomorrow.
Unless I can close it,
That retched swinging door
Of my current existence.