Allegory Poems (898)

I was níneteen years old
when I set foot
in Brooklyn
with a head full of money
and a heart full of dreams

irish as green
broadshouldered and happy
I had two million thoughts
and two million schemes

"Take your time" said my Da
your game but your restless
not everyone out there
thinks like you do

for some
they would shoot you
for the brogues on your feet
or the claddagh you got
from your mother

so take it easy and lightly
and think like your happy
and the world is your own
and the good things are free

at the time uncle Finbarr
was a cop in new Jersey
my father.. much younger
looked after his Ma

when an email from America
said "send the lad over"
and my da looked at me
and the both of us smiled

for i spent my life working
the nightclubs of Dublin
for a few college women
and a few pints of gold

"so maybe you can learn
the true cost of living
see some of life
and maybe help me"

so I landed in Kennedy
with my big Irish head
holding a smile
and humming a tune

when my breath it was taken
by a big yellow taxi
and a stunning young woman
whose eyes were like June

If all the sharp stars, fell down from up high, from spaces beyond deep blue skies...
Would you even try, to catch at least one, or stare glaring as each star dies?...
Might you doubt that I, care not for my sight, I'd stare at the sky until you...
View blue's truest blues, through night's true blue hues, bright minds sometime see more than eyes...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dark skies display stars, honed by the Sun's rays, sight gone, yet now I can see...
More clear than I ever, I pray that you never, stop shining your light down on me...
At times and on days, in ways brightly blaze, star-points pierce through the night's shades...
And I've felt the pain of your stars from the start, sharp blades fiercely pierce while they play....

the air did move in silent sing
as linnets sung on warble wing
and truth did shine upon it's clock
as two moored souls depart the dock

time bent around the sides of trees
as grass made love to naked knees
and dappled light found darkened shade
as hearts defied what time obeyed

a blanket framed the dry formed soil
and used as seat the fruits of toil
and I saw magic in her stare
that told me truth resided there

rustic bread in champagne flute
stepping stones back to my youth
noise fell away in lieu of guile
I bivouac inside her smile

Some say loving is gambling
But my card decks have other use
Nowadays games and relationships are scrambling
Surely there is a certain abuse

The fortune is always counting on random
Real chances are rare
If some people bet and lack a condom
Better forget to be bare

Are there really fair players?
So many friends cry on my shoulder

However, I keep my faith on prayers
Meanwhile the game is over

In sweeps the autumn

all ears the fawn awakens

dew morning blanket

I met her in the winter
in a bar upon the hill
when the dark
was carved by starlight
and the moon
had paid the bill

I stepped in from the wilderness
from the howling wind and rain
I was weary from my journey's
around other people's pain

"you are bearded broad and ugly"
said the prairie girl in fright
not one for moralising
we shared our bones that night

I told her of my story
from the famine ships I came
in a world of madness hunger
where I killed men to my shame

corruption took our homelands
our humanity and our dead
I hated a world that priced our lives
in the currency of bread

I left her at the dawning
as a coyote fought the moon
one night was our forever
she'd be over me by noon

my journey is a lonesome one
thrown far by the devil's hurl
so I bellow out two fires
for the prairie and the girl

the cafe was closing
and the air was darker
than age
Mary was fixing
her order
and her world
had become
like a cage


will you still see me
on Sunday?
will you wear that dress
and look nice..?
but you know
that a question
ain't a question
when you
got to ask it twice..

and the sparrows
still play
in the cornfields
where we used
to make love
and you'd sing..

ain't it funny
how something
is nothing
when nothing
was once everything?

I drove down there
around midnight
past farms
that seemed
to be free

but I knew
one day
that I'd buy one
and that
would be the end
of me

talk of music
and college
of dance halls
lawyers and gown
but it's hard
to dance with a roughneck
when a banker's hand
owns town


she was getting tired
of me
my work, my car
and my dark
and I looked to the heavens
for answers
and saw nothing but stars
and a lark

"I heard she married a doctor"
my friend Dave
did say
later on

and I smiled
like it meant
nothing to me
and got sick
when I knew
he was gone

now the sparrows still sing
in the cornfields
neath the mountains
where she
used to sing

aint it funny
how something
is nothing
when nothing
was once everything

and her car, her car
is a dream.

when I tamed rage
and tried anew
a road emerged
that led to you

when I quit work
and made a career
I fed with tune
my starving ear

when darkness fell
about my boot
I shed the cloak
that hid the truth

when I buried hate
and then forgave
a poem grew
around the grave

I see you everyday
its not important you see me
I'm the the man who moors his boat
near your house upon the quay

your son is older than me
learning issues, t'would appear
he follows you like gravity
like a worry follows fear

you never appear angry
in the face of nature's mirth
everyday he walks beside you
every day a brand new shirt

"who looks after you?" I think
as the ocean soaks the sands
you hold your son so tightly
an umbilical cord of hands

you always seem to have a smile
as you fumble for your key
I'm humbled by your kindness
you must be north of sixty - three

I worry for your future
but there's steel around your home
a dignity past this modern place
a swan a'swim in chrome

She's just a kiss away from
Heavens gate
She's just a smile I've
Seen through a glass
Darkly
She's bone of my bone
Flesh of my flesh
An epiphany of my
Forgotten dreams
She is a thousand
Years of my souls
Thirst
Beckoning me to
A world unknown
She whispers healing
To the last wilting
Flower of my soul
And can set my
Foot on streets
Of gold
She speaks softly
From beyond the
Stars
She lives within
The veil of life
Her throne was
Fashioned in the
Courts of valor
In the crucible of
Blood and passion
She is often heard
Lamenting in the
Fires of her longing
Tears
And though her sobs
Of mercy is known
To few
And her outstretched
Arms broken on
A cross
Her name is whispered
In every handful
Of dust
She is called
wisdom..

Cafe