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The Monastic City

                        The Monastic City                             (Glendalough)   [Foreword: This poem is an imaginative presentation of life and motivation in a mediæval monastery. It should not be considered as an expression of the author’s […]

Problems of Identity?

Problems of Identity?        Some people say — though I have seen no proof That their assertions are well founded — that The Scots were Irish but now haunt the hills      Of Caledonia’s bleak, blasted wastes; The Irish, who now farm damp brown peat-bogs Outwith Hibernia’s green pale, were Scots!.     […]

Engravings

                 Engravings        Queen Mary Tudor once declared her heart Would be found graved with CALAIS when she died Because, through unwise policies of State, She lost that Channel guard-post to the French.      When my time comes to die, perhaps that same Part will be found […]

Harold at Hastings

Harold at Hastings          (14 October 1066)        Harald Hardraada, King of Norway, dead With traitor Tostig (Earl Northumberland Before his baser nature had been known), Caught by surprise at Yorkshire’s Stamford Bridge By England’s king as they invaded there To steal his crown away; now that same king, Harold, […]

Into the Unknown

                 Into the Unknown        Westwards, on winds of hope, I sail at last Towards my bright tomorrow’s hidden lands; As once Columbus and Magellan went To find their destinies in history.      Columbus for the Indies set his course But found, instead, Southern America; […]

Maghera

Maghera        “A man was shot in Maghera today…”. Surely some noble creed had sanctified This deed of wrath, this devastating force?.      The creed, alas!, was godless Anarchy. But fear it is prevents both Prelates’ words And Politicians’ acts. Immoral fear That to resist is worse fate than to yield.   […]

Cypriot Choice

                                Cypriot Choice                                         (1967)        God-given, God-forsaken land of sun, Once-favoured Cyprus — island of renown Set boldly […]

Astronauts

                  Astronauts        Riding flaming columns           Into unknown space; Monitoring instruments      Juddered by displaced Huge atmospheric pressures           Out of their control; Juggling with computer-jargon;      Hoping unseen defects      Won’t cancel their bold try And write a fractured epitaph           Upon the smoking sky. […]

Xerxes in Greece

Xerxes in Greece (October 480 BC)        Xerxes, sat on his throne high overSalamis, Stared down in disbelief to see his Persian fleet, (More than two thousand sail), trapped and destroyed within Those narrow straits where they were lured by wily Greeks, Whose mere four hundred triremes beat the waves to foam And […]

Never Despair

                       Never Despair (Sir Winston Churchill K.G. d. 25th January 1965)             The Spirit of our Age                Is now no more. He has dispensed with our mortality And joined again that God from Whom he came.             What words can tell Those qualities […]

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