“Irish”
when the Irish
go to heaven
they will all speak
Gaelic again
and kick-dance
for the hell of it
when the Irish are sent
to Co Purgatory
they talk quietly
in penitential Latin
climbing the clouds
in their bare feet
when the Irish
go to hell
they speak English
all over again
hunting each other down
the wet dark streets
in trainers
a word unknown
in either Gaelic or Latin
Osney, Oxford 26 October 2013
Osney, Oxford July 2006
“Cowper 2000″
in that night
I thought I saw
across a field
the great figure
of a man
sitting inside
a pylon
and he was
watching me
Oxford 26 October 2013
from South Hinksey August 2008
On William Cowper’s Mirror, at Olney
the epoux
is through-
the cave
looked back at me
just a mirror
showing me in her place
looking back
at my loss
in its mask of horror
yet I was certain
we’d been together
all that time
did my turning round
put me where
she had been
or reveal the truth
she was never there
all along
King’s Arms
Oxford 3 October 2013