Two poems from The Land of Cudhaben that land where we dream...if only. #savethe8th #repealthe8th

I am not saying how I will vote in the upcoming Irish Constitutional Amendment on repealing the Eight Amendment – but my conscience and my decision will as always be from my own experience, from my heart – and not from speeches, posters, arguments,  clerical pressure, or callers to radio discussion programs.

The Land of Cudhabeen
In the land of CudhabeenYou could ask for a bedtime storyAnd I could tell you one.
What would it be about?What would you ask for?
Would you ask for life?Would you ask thatIt never happened:
That you came and wentSo soon. So very soon.
I don't know and I willNever have the answer:It's your answer that you
Never got to give.And can't now.
At least not in words,Or a language we understand.Did you answer in the wind?
That time, I thoughtI heard you whispering.
Did you sweep the gentle rain dropsOnto my cheeks?To wash away my sad tears.
Sad tears not just for youBut for all who went too soon.
Did you send the heat to comfort my bones?My stooped back creaking and sore.And then the warmth.
Was it your warmth?Healing me. But only my body.
My mind in the land of Cudhabeen,Will never stop asking why?Why me? Why us? Why them?
There is no happy ever afterIn this story.
And yet sometimes you chase that darknessAnd show the new light,The new season to me:
That for now, my child,Will keep me hopeful.
And in time perhaps, In another telling Of the next story. You
Will get to hold meIn your arms.
Roses Have Thorns
They spawned this place,In the same furnace,That forged Magdalens:From cold intentions.
We will handle itThey told my Parents.Leave it - to us…In grief: trust was given.
Then, They took meIn my swaddling clothes;And mangered me hereIn my Gethsemane.
No graveside company Mourned me;Only my CreatorsDistant, unseen, tears.
Shattered hearts:Still honour me:In painful dreams, Of my once-being.
I will be remembered Now, They say again,With Rose GardensBut, Roses have thorns.
Honour me, with grassAnd Markers.Put me in the lightThat always shines,
In my parents' hearts.In the remembrancesOf my family.Not among the thorns.
We have carried That Crown already.