You sleep here always in my bed,
Your soul is never far from me,
No matter what the gods have said.
...
Two small pebbles washed up together
at the same time, in the same place,
after a whole tidewash of transformations;
two small pebbles named you and me.
...
Because of the dirge in the dance,
because of the salt in the wave,
because of the fading glow
of the perfect ring,
...
We are way out here on the edge
of town,
and a breathless, gushing ocean
clings to your tidewash of shards.
...
It's a squally September morning
and on the pavement outside my window
a blonde woman and a blonde girl -
presumably her daughter - are strolling
...
I
What can I say about Bob Dylan?
That some strange, authentic light
...
Martin Mc Carthy is a contributing editor to the American poetry website, The HyperTexts. He lives in Cork City, Ireland, where he studied English at UCC and was awarded the H. Dip. in Education. His poems and reviews have appeared in numerous print and online publications. He has published three poetry books: Lockdown Diary (2020) , Lockdown (2021) and The Perfect Voice (2023) . His fourth collection - a long sequence of love poems, titled The Book of Desire - is awaiting publication, and he has begun work on a fifth collection, titled Songs from a World Gone Wrong. He has his own poetry website at mccarthypoet.com Publications Martin Mc Carthy has published three poetry collections: Lockdown Diary (2020) , Lockdown (2021) and The Perfect Voice (2023) . His most recent poems appeared in the following publications: Poems from My 5k, Drawn to the Light, Seventh Quarry Poetry, Poetry Salzburg, The Lyric, The Road Not Taken, The Orchards Poetry Journal, The Madrigal, WestWard Quarterly, Better Than Starbucks, Blue Unicorn, Lighten Up Online, The Chained Muse, London & Newcastle, The Society of Classical Poets, Taj Mahal Review, The Cathal Buí Anthology of Poetry, Southword, New Lyre and The HyperTexts. He was shortlisted for the Red Line Poetry Prize, and is a nominee for the 2023 Pushcart Prize. At present he is working on a new poetry collection, titled Songs from a World Gone Wrong.)
No Matter
You sleep here always in my bed,
Your soul is never far from me,
No matter what the gods have said.
Long ago, you packed and fled,
But how can you be happy?
You sleep here always in my bed.
To another, you are safely wed,
Yet ever restless like the sea,
No matter what the gods have said.
The sky around you glows bright red,
But there's no fire to embody.
You sleep here always in my bed.
My passion for you won't stay dead,
And you know this to some degree,
No matter what the gods have said.
So what tomorrow lies ahead?
What lovers do we dare to be?
You sleep here always in my bed,
No matter what the gods have said.
The best we can do, the best we can hope for, is to have woven some dazzling tapestry from the fabric of our lives before our time runs out.