Arklow….Slumbering Sunday

While Arklow sleeps away the dawn after the night !
All sucked deep into a pillow white and soft
If find myself here on the ridge again...foot follows foot at ease and without pain
One step behind the other... there is a breeze stirring at the edges of the tide.

Peace clings upon the air...the church bell on the hour rings a dull low bell and I am very much just me
It seems to be the way I am and I’m not sure if this is good or bad
Or whether I should I make the effort ?... embrace a friend, a lover,
Be someone’s other half ... I am so bad at it..
It seems to drive me mad..
That worming into my life..wanting to change my life. To change me..
It always ends that way.

And so today... I just go on ... alone..and happy in my walk .

I’m thinking ..the sea air is such an anodyne..
I am feeling very free ...

The ducks upon the pond..float above their unseen busy legs
Do not care what day it is..or if there is a God or not..
They are just there to do and quack and love ..
For unlike me today..they have companions...
And their ..special duck.

A swan flies overhead, it’s chatting to itself ...
Pilot to the cabin...landing now..
I watch it , it’s a thrilling sight..
Feet first , it always stops before if hits the bank, but only just..and
Nonchalantly settles into the ripples as if to say...you thought I would not make it
Didn’t you...? You thought..perhaps you even wanted me...to crash..Just for excitement.
But I am not as stupid as you think ..I’m proud ..
I Have evolved since early times and ..
I know how to brake! You Sunday Fool..be on your way
And take your eyes off me...

And so I walk along the flat and down the path along the grassy bank
And up again to meet the sea..the empty sea...no boats, no ships
The harbour is an silent land..

I turn back in.. along the lane the sound of gravel crunch beneath my shoe
The sun is rising , autumn morning flickers on the brambles.

The worm will finds its way into the sweetest berry and devour it.

And whilst I may not know my quantum physics
I am sure of this.

Kristine Byrne sept 2010