FLYING

 MASTERY OF SKY

High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing 

In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,

  As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend:

 the hurl and gliding 

  Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding 

Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing! 

Gerard Manley Hopkins

 from 'The Windhover'

A POET'S EPITAPH

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge is probably best remembered for two poems, ‘Kubla Khan’ and ’ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, the former supposedly written while the young poet was under the influence of opium. He died on the 25 th. Of July in 1834 and an autopsy revealed that he had been suffering from an enlarged heart. He was buried at Old Highgate Chapel but in 1961 he was re-interred in St. Michael’s Church. He wrote this epitaph in the last year of his life.

 O, Lift One Thought

'Stop, Christian Passer-by! - Stop, child of God,
And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod
A poet lies, or that which once seem'd he. -
O, lift one thought in prayer for S.T.C.;
That he who many a year with toil of breath
Found death in life, may here find life in death!
Mercy for praise - to be forgiven for fame
He ask'd, and hoped, through Christ.
Do thou the same!'

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

SAFE AND SECURE

BANK BALANCE

  CORRECTION

Deciding to take a day off  from the stresses of high finance, a  hot-shot banker went back to visit some of his teachers at his old school. Entering the school, he saw a dog attacking a small child. He quickly jumped on the dog and strangled it.
The next day, the local paper reported the story with the headline "VALIANT STUDENT SAVES BOY FROM FEARSOME DOG"
The banker called the editor of the paper and strongly suggested that a correction be issued, pointing out that he was no longer a student, but a successful banking executive..
The following day, the paper issued a correction, with a headline that read, "POMPOUS BANKER KILLS SCHOOL MASCOT"

FALLING AWAY

;

WATCHING MY STEP

Cleeves bank runs from Limerick city to Barrington's Pier alongside the majestic river Shannon.The path is named after the once nearby Cleeves factory which used to produce a world famous toffee and other sugary confections. The bank was a favourite haunt of childhood conjuring up dreams and adventures inspired by the great river as well as giving the opportunity to cast a line and discover the delights of fishing from the riverbank for the first time. Later the bank became a leafy route for walking the dog and my mother in her later years daily walked 'Judy' along its path delighting in the natural beauty and peacefulness of the place. Walking along the bank recently brought a tide of memories to mind and caused some reflection of the future and my own mortality, so the poem below. ~GOSh.~

ON CLEEVES BANK

I’ve walked this track as boy and man
Through sunshine days and rain,
And left the path quite reassured
This way I’ll pass again.

But now I take each careful step

As though this one my last,
And gently tread the sacred spot
A blessed noble task.

 

Gerard O'Shea

 

 The view from Cleeves bank