for Seamus Heaney As in war, we are com­rades and enemies all at once. We inter­cept another’s plea for help, and under­stand instinct­ively the pain and the struggle to escape. Some­times, seeing between the coded lines we com­pre­hend a deeper mean­ing within the general…

My mor­tal­ity con­tin­ues to affront me mer­ci­lessly – Writ­ing a letter, I ima­gine it old and yellow in a dis­tant des­cend­ant’s hands, exclaim­ing wonder at dis­cov­er­ing such an ancient doc­u­ment. Walk­ing under a con­crete tunnel, I envis­aged The crash­ing col­lapse, and the…

for Mat­thew I didn’t know that life could cut like this, Razor-sharp and unreas­on­able: A shot going off in a young mind, No-one there to com­fort the tor­men­ted. I didn’t real­ise I could bleed through tears, Pain­ful and sear­ing, Burn­ing into veins of water The fire…

The best of crimes is the one that is quick and silent It creeps up from behind Stalk­ing you on velvet paws And before you know what’s hit you You’re down there, there was no shot, And there’ll be no writh­ing about. Not even a sound and it’s all over. Even better if…

Coming to the con­clu­sion that today Should be struck from the record Was by far the easi­est decision In a long day of drag­ging feet. Know­ing that this was nature’s revenge For my month of elev­ated spir­its, I still waltzed into every down­fall, Every door­jamb, every…