Untitled Landscape

How do you see me? he asked
I paused. At nineteen how do you answer that?
How do you say, I cannot describe you?

He was, we were,
wild beauty rocks and mountains and waterfalls
or we were urban decay wasteland and wire fence

I remember those days through a haze of nostalgia
the least of them pulsates like a beating heart
lifeblood of experience

I was unknown. You were unspoken
He was unformed. She was unbroken.
We were untitled landscapes.

1.

Simple

Simple

It was simple:
-once upon a time,
-it'll all be okay,
-what doesn't kill you.
Mundanities.
Clichés.
No hostages, taken or given
no price not worth paying
freedom defined by lack of,
responsibilities
ties or attachments
plans.
Complex how time
defers payment
cashes the cheque at the last moment
reaching into pockets
taking the ounce of flesh and to hell
with blood.
Not so easy now.
Not so simple, not
so clearcut . Time falling
like snowdrops, moments melting
away before you can touch them.
Simple
how easily it all becomes the past.


Geraldine Moorkens Byrne

1.

Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping Dogs


Do not awaken slumbering beasts;

They are guarding secrets

Deeper than you know.

Do not provoke their interest

or you will flee

before the reddened eye and bared teeth.

Sleeping Dogs guard the gates of hel

and feast upon the arrogant or unwary soul -

Who fears not the past, is a fool.

Geraldine Moorkens Byrne

1.