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Upon hearing the recitation Of a vagrant on the jetty The sound of waves lapped in amazement And marvelled at the young pier jumpers A pepper shaker had been resigned By a tiny diver in thunderous expression Who tapped a bin-lid on the pavement as A lover gave a girl a quick peck on the cheek Do not cry sideways for the lack of values held by your descendants A similar judgement was flung at you though you knew yourself to be blameless Dancing violently upon a table in a pub in the west Cackling wildly at the old men as she kicked over their drinks Everybody shook their heads at things unsaid But she was condemned with eternal constitution He was happy for the relief The sun and waters benumbed his vision He held a pen to the crest of the skyline In praise of balance and all level surfaces They hit the road for Ballycroy Seaweed acted as mascara for the recess Curious children held on to a dress of maternal frills as their feet thrummed across the boardwalk Her bedside manner has a southern grace and midwifery instincts And the coherent faculty that is inborn to all great women As she tells the young ones that they’ll all be half their parents age twice From then on continue to further cluster untoward the end of their lives But for all your present faults I believe one day you rebound for equal parts in redemption

I’m in the ring makin eyes with the beast I’m in the ring and the beast is sizin me I’m in the ring makin eyes with the beast Playin dead and the beast is sniffin me Gets to a point when you’ve gotta speak Gets to a point when the terms are concrete In the museum looking in the vitrine In the museum looking from the vitrine Since the flash everything has gone concrete Madam life span come back to me Gimme an example of some common speech The lass had climbed up to the upper sheave The lass had fell down from the upper sheave And the crowd gasped and gandered as they all screamed "I'll write a song for her life to redeem" I write a song to make her life concrete In my minds eye the vision recedes

Freedom to roam Forgive my jilted sleight of hand You have wished for a sense of clarity More than I could withdraw from Freedom to roam Has become a crying child In the parlour of some widows house Who is framing her revenge dress You are crawling t’ward forgiveness You are asking for a witness You are blocked off by some other thought that you did not prioritise You are falling off the wagon again For the tenth time in years Do not lend me some allowance To aid the crime of my hand Freedom to roam These roads lead to a dying cause There are gaps here there are maps here There's the wall to which they belong Freedom to roam Mending fences suits you well It's a good one cajole her with But I prefer my freedom to roam You are becoming an ideal Looking at you from a fortnight Wishing you'd foresaw the white flame Of the hell you could bring about There are grafters There are fablers There are few who could bare to laugh At the missed things that they missed Things that they rather would attend Than to pull you up and out of All the rabble that you find Yourself braced and whipped inside of But not at that current moment It will be when you're mending fences Telling others of the fortress Of the house that you have made You might like these self-made borders You might like these weekends in Mending fences is all fine and good But I prefer my freedom to roam You are whistling at the junction With your medals of success Held by the ribbon of the colour That your kinfolk used to wear When they laid the land you stumble upon And mastered the nooks and crannies Of the junction you’ve arrived at With a thought you should prioritise And them medals of succession Held by fingers, bleached by august Given to you by a member Of your kinfolk you look up to When you pray prayers indirectly To some vague misunderstanding Of what you have figured out Can stand in place of insurance That you’ve got the right idea That's a thought you should prioritise

In night Under arc of microwave light Coworkers bet upon my name And shoot for snake eyes. Die shadow roll long To wish dasher song From memory spawned To memory gone. I have been a stranger to my home for a long time And drinkin' in flippant cultures Getting caught off guard Ceaselessly bein’ disarmed I’ve forgotten how to charm ‘Cos I’ve been quiet here for so long But now I’m goin' on the offensive But I’ve been tired here for so long I need to keep my wits about me When I was a kid I wanted to drink As soon as I could As soon as I could At the friars street offy I was so cocksure Just hoping to crack elbows with a few Devonian monks The man from the shop Was runnin' us away Sayin' move along please Sayin' move along please But now I’ma jumpin’ Like a lifeguard on the clock Someone is saying yes For the price of a pack of fags But I've been lying to you as long As I’ve been goin' on the offensive I’ve been repeating this for so long In order to keep my wits about me Wary be o’ those Who do decree They are too cocksure So wary be Wary be o’ those Who cut and jibe When they are in the domicile Mostly woe doth betide Wary be o’ those Who weigh up your worth For using the resources Given you at birth There are those Who say you can trust me But fool you in a crowd So wary be You’re an unfolded card reaction On a half-spring lawn And you are smiling again But not quite at full fledge A thing cold opened might naturally lean from sun Taking refuge under your shadowy ledge The shadows in the kitchen Sing the weekly songs o' dread And the delusions of those against me And the delusions of those against me This week I will encounter Some folk who do not trust me For the way that I act When I bring the compartments together I've ne’er double crossed a neighbour I’m not one to call betrayer I’m done playing guilt-free purveyor Wary be o’ false claim layer

(Enter spirit farmer) Hang the flags of holy see! By way of fortune isle Back drafted pink gin falconry Descending limestone horses Give a final prod at the loch now there Shifting shoreline of Coole park On this day Do I dare? The morning of engagement We could practice a few times We walk in partial sickness And we said our short goodbyes We drive in partial innocence And the roundabouts did not relent But the tinkers were doing roll starts free of charge For you and me and the flutes of engagement And can I from distance summon all your passing grace? And can I exhibit facets so perfectly placed? The night before engagement people were singin’ Loch Bran and Athenry With secret smiles and inbetween lines so eagerly clapping along to the flutes of engagement The evening of engagement we were drinking in relief The secrets were revealed and you decided to agree To spend your life in sickness or in health with me A toast to Brigid and Saint Rafael, tonight we’re chingin’ the flutes of engagement Words of love into my ear Think I’ll hold it this time

Urges craven and foolhardy come booming over the phone Filial scripts on stages impossibly drilled in over the phone What you are doin’ is good for the soul but you’re tethering yourself down Might as well be a byre dwelling bachelor, footing turf and nowhere bound Are you not that man of renown who could draw blood from a stone And are you not that man about town who for a year lived alone You are blessed among swine like an opulent handyman, still you channel virtue! Dancing in a seafront kiosk among the sparks of the moon. In fairness begott’n and bareness forgott’n in casks What winged spirit would compel thee to ask What is it you must go through? And if in my words I speak too fast In faith you would fain be renew’d! Awoken by the snap of a wish bone For the last time passing Ailsa Craig on your way From Troon to Larne. Modernity rover treat her kindly Maternally southern foxgloves bloom And I’ll scorn not his simplicity Oh there are many things I continue to do wrong But you wont get me for that Nah you won't get me for that In the ruins of your welcome are twenty dollar shaped stale cakes You sighed as the door opened, deflated balloons keelin’ in stalemate And with the chairs refolding for the first time again and the confetti adorning the grass In the wake of your welcome are seven and four upright sleepin' old men from your past Who can no longer bare the brunt of all the shite you say Such as “I'm a freeborn man of the USA” Down at the crossroads swifts are wheelin’ and speakin' in tongues Tellin’ me to go on back, all that fear was in your head you made! And for that I will tip the porter kindly Nah I’ll not be frugal in payin’ passage From Troon to Larne. Head transcendence in the evening, full of ascendant yeast and warmth Caused this spiritual abrasure, fanned and punished by the morn Of infrastructural maintenance with workin men from elsewhere So you’ll decide to stay or go after this trip across the foam Ah you said you’d have no regrets Like a bandit forging a ditchline And you will get me with that Yeah you got me there with that After gang o’er the foam once more From Troon to Larne. Round Lough Neagh past Castlecaulfield Down through Fenagh past Selton Hill Past the seventh son of the seventh son Where the parading captain fell ill And I’ll walk down in through the hedgerow Knock three times kindly on the door I will make a solemn pledge-o Not to study war no more Will I meet you at the station Will I dream of foreign nation Will I still be so endowed With my wife and kids around With the generous magic found there Passed in parcels of gifts of gab Yarns and poems of people who’ve passed through The very county in which you stand Will I do the young ones that service As I was spoken to speak to them Or shrink tall tales with chalk and pool cue And will I think twice again? As I meet you down at the station I’ll not dream of foreign nation I’ll not dream of foreign nation I'll not dream of foreign nation

Flaxen hair and stars Out of time All in dreams of beach vacation Stranded in an exit doorway Of the courtyard of abused reminders Will we steal away again? Like a thief from the court Will we steal away again? Hop the hurdles of domestic order

In the coming years What should be on our minds? Will we be thinking about potentials yet unreached? Sunlight on the fence Will we steal away again? Will we steal away like thieves from the courtyard?

Did you organise the Amethyst By size like I told you? I know we’ve been near here once before but the stakes are different today These past few months have just been to close to call Did you rearrange the birthstones By constellation like I told you? And move them out from the foyer and put them next to the door where the light shines in Glitter up the pictures of me and you in Mexico On the night before the nuptials Do you remember what I told you? I know we love these girls dearly But if things ever get worn down to bedrock We’ll head down south on the course we drew out years ago And now for the particulars Of this potent communion In the nave of arcane currency The twain not alloying in endlessly reaming amphora And every level surface dispensing incomplete coinage All among the highway and sirens Twin widows mining for twilight Unravelling a map in raven-rag And giving out about these misplaced citations But keeping places to keep Storing landmarks to store Now with string and a pin-prick Routing the drive on a light-up globe Unfurling the holiday wear and rerouting the cards all the way from Brevard and down along the coast to the Montagua fault I'll never show WIPs again But I’ll fake presages Like a jealous chough What glimmers neath the ruins now What ruins all decisions now The third ingredient was found We let them watch the world go by We let them watch the world spin about We spin them words and let them live They live as though they’ve never talked They live as though they've never spoken They live and leave the window open I’ll never show WIPs again

Headlights catch the blinds from my house Church-house then are dimmed All as a passenger door opens Sullen shout resounding In the parking lot Scuttering on the asphalt Is a great dane or a fox hound Newly escaped or abandoned Now embalmed, reverse lit In the parking lot Bounding to and fro in fearful Foaming aggravation Moaning for something familiar Not to be found Within the parking lot I could go and grab it Keep it for the night moreover Keep it, train it as my own they truly are the best protection I could train him tramp from friend Contractor from con I could train him to respond to Our sullen fealty ball And have the wherewithal To tame your wanton call All things are now blind from open view All since the neighbours threw the fence up All occurences now hidden both ways From the parking lot The neighbours in the trailer Have been at it like some hawkers With a blanket full of wares unsold As scalping rookies claim The parking lot Cicadas bang about and overwhelm The wraith-like hollerin’ Oh she's outgunned and unnamed She needs a cur for some protection Maybe I could breach the fence Ask my neighbour to stall It’s all just so familiar And I can’t bear the thought Of the peoples prying salt I claim your wanton call On the night of solstice What comes swooping from the bough A barn owl lands upon the fence Looks past me onward untoward The parking lot Shopping carts were running from my head In songlike symbols Through my neck And down my arm And through my fingers Through a pen I use to jot This down

The river that you Grew up thinking threw The rain that seems to Cloud up the whole moon I am looking at you The things that you say The things that you think Should be one and the same They are one and the same The city storm drain The blood in your veins The waters of rain Standing on a plain The tears on your face The frost that you chase In a curtain of lace In the summer steam They are one and the same The Ogham in Connaught The Mayan rope language The caves in France Some ancient dance The song of the multi-passported Playing over lunch In the restaurant you love With the chefs name above They are one and the same.

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