I Am Said I (Huruma)

While I am thinking Of the moon Waxing lyrical In its striving To emerge Through cloud Again The boy inside a man Desperately needs To break Out of the dark Room of an ancient Wound He questions The recall of his Mind Emotional Memory Is Without doubt Convulsing In its honesty Bursting Into tears When the movie tells A story like his own Assaulting Every involuntary Fibre of him Compulsing I pray the prayer He cannot say Express a hope He cannot feel Beg God Put forth Your arm in strength On his behalf How long The wounded Wait The mounting years Too many I am helpless Beneath the sundered Sky Jet blackness Set against A kind radiance Silver lining Of the night Behold she comes Bright brilliance Low, lopsided, lovely The moon as mother Appears Beacon of a goodness That might prevail And not fail again

The desert Has no light Of its own The night Sky illumines The darkness Pulsating Stars brilliant Moon There's a cry In the desert Like no other True With no pretence In it A thirst Like no other Most intense And lonely The yearning That will not Be satisfied

Moonlight On a flooded field Coat blown Open to December's Weather Warmer Than summer Something Has turned Inside her Nothing Is as it was Before The hurt Kindness Spurned goodness Repudiated She is uncertain now Of everything All that she trusted

Last Friday morning January 8 I was at home in Galway sorting through CD’s, deciding which to keep and which to get rid of. Among those I decided to keep was The Best of David Bowie from 1997. I had forgotten I had it and was delighted to re-connect with it again. It didn’t dawn on me at the time that Friday was David Bowie’s birthday and I didn’t realize that he was in the last days of his life. On Monday morning I got a text from my brother saying it was hard to believe that Bowie had bowed out. That was the first I heard of his death and it occupied my mind and my memories for the rest of the day. In the Summer of ’72, at the age of 17, with my Leaving Cert done (and failed!) I was working in Southgate in London and staying with my aunt Eileen and her family. I was a music fanatic and always watched TOTP and was watching on an evening in July when David Bowie came on singing ‘Starman’. I had never seen or heard of him before, never saw or heard the likes of him and I was immediately...

Feast of Mary Mother of God & World Day of Peace We come to the threshold of a new year, to a crossing in which we are carried by Christ; carried within Him in the mystery of Word and Eucharist. For the Christian it is always a threshold of hope. We come to it – together or alone - in the company of Mary, Mother of God, Mother of Peace and, with her we pause to glance back at the year that is ending, we pause to ponder and to treasure in our hearts all that has been. There are experiences of great personal pain, of death and births that did not happen. There are babies who were born, dreams that were fulfilled, challenges met and obstacles overcome. We ponder in order to recognize the presence of God in all that we have been given to experience and this recognition of God’s presence in the past gives us hope for the future that is unfolding. This is a contemplative, reflective moment that is necessary in every human life so that we are not endlessly rushing from one experience to a...