“Tell me where is fancy bred / Or in the heart or in the head?” –William Shakespeare.  Also Willy Wonka.

I found Ireland today

I looked for her in the streets of her tourist’s cities
The H&Ms, the Subways, the towers of glass and cement
But I did not find Ireland there

I looked for her in the suburbs filled with hate
With barbed wire and war paint, drenched in blood and bullets
But I did not find Ireland there

I looked for her in the villages of her people
In friendly smiles, quaint houses all in rows
And I caught a glimpse of Ireland

But I found her at last in the coast
Where the best of the world can be found
Simply by turning your head

In the sea, blue as any Caribbean wave
Spreading like a calming blanket over the deep
Putting rocks and sand and seaweed to rest

With snow-stallion surf that hurtles roaring toward the shore
And crashes, breaking itself upon the stones
And dribbles back into the source, I found Ireland

In Queen Anne’s lace and thistles and buttercups
In daisies, dandelions, and purple grass
And in emerald carpets, clinging to the hills like moss

In cliffs of black and white against the seas
Standing vast, defiant, shouting out
“We are Ireland, we are proud”

Filled with mysterious caves and cracks and crags
Carved by stream and wave with millennial patience
And rising to ramparts of green, I found Ireland

In the gulls wheeling on unseen winds
And calling to each other like the ghosts
Of a thousand children, crying for their children

In the sun that suddenly bursts through sheep-wool clouds
Ra looking down on what he cannot tame
The mountains that outshine the pyramids

And in the fierce gusting of the ocean breeze
Passing like the Spirit, surrounding, embracing
Filling, purifying, there I found Ireland

And I, I stand torn between word and sight
Do I write these words rushing from heart to arm
Through fingers and pencil, like lifeblood begging for freedom?

Or do I gaze at scenes surreal, sublime
Half dream, half drink, refreshing soul and mind
A call to worship in a God-built cathedral
Hallelujah, hallelujah! I have found my love at last!