To watch from a distance
the world settle in for its night
from a bank high up under the Skye Road
where I can make out
comforting lights in windows
cars in their driveways
and the beam of a lighthouse all
blink, blink, wait…
blink, blink, wait…
Somebody below is driving carefully along the low road.
below, below, billow, bellow
Wind rocks solstice grass,
on a bank high over solstice ocean
orange lights flicker over Ballyconneely,
drizzle drapes the blue tent
as colour slowly drains from the sky
in that long solstice goodbye.
Goodbye
good buy
good boy
The year’s a turning,
and two thousand seventeen,
is flying by, flying, flung:
I search for the lighthouse blips again
and ask for a calm
to seep into my gaps
Blink, blink, wait…
Dimmer now, hiding under mist.
Bofin, to Omey to Claddaghduff,
Cleggan, around the mess of edge to Clifden,
the flat bogs out to Erris Hill,
and down to Roundstone:
dreamy unreachable comfort
of lights coming on in faraway windows
like rainbow held at its distance
If I approach
it will break
as waves where they meet shore
so I will stay here and watch
from a bank high up under the Skye Road
as the dark settles.
Donal Kelly, June 2017
