MARGARET O’DRISCOLL

MARGARET O’DRISCOLL

SCINTILLATING

Pulled by powerful magnetism

I’m aboard an Arctic cruise ship

Ice cap, ice breaker

Thermal gloves, cocktail shaker

Sunglasses against the glare of white

The captain carefully navigating

Binoculars scanning floating icebergs

Scenery so serene, scintillating

Fur lined boots, fjords

Company on deck heartily laughing

Seals lie languidly on snow clad rocks

Suddenly a blue-green iceberg’s calving

Night time brings a new panorama

On deck I watch as I’m dining

The dome of darkness lit by stars

The Great Bear in brilliance shining

I SAW A BEAUTIFUL SUN

‘I saw a beautiful sun, nannie

It was orange, shining bright

I saw it on the way home, nannie

Hope I see it again tonight’

‘What was that sun I saw, nannie’

‘Oh, that was the sun going down’

‘Going down where, nannie -

To the other side of town’ ?

MY GIFT TO YOU

Come lie with me on warm grass awhile

Inhale the sweet clover, the scent of pure soil

Walk hand in hand beneath hawthorn trees

White petals drifting by in a warm Summer breeze

Stroll arm in arm along a lane to a bog

Taste succulent blackberries, hear the croak of a frog

See the beauty of butterworts growing by a stream

From cupped hands sip cool well water - a dream

Watch a dazzling dragonfly flit to and fro

See young trout darting to the shadows below

Hear the pheasant’s call as it takes to the air

Tall creamy meadowsweet in bloom everywhere

Touch the bog cotton, feel the sun on your face

My gift to you is any wild place

AWAKENING

Warmth of Spring

Sap rises

Growth surges anew

Take it, take it

Take the sun’s caress

Take the richness of the earth

Renewal, rebirth

Sap spreads through every vein

Every sinew

A great greening

Unleashing of leaves

Buds burst forth

In quick succession

Plants don’t stop to ponder

The time is now

Be swept up with the rising sap

For it is Spring, it is Spring

Embrace the feeling it awakens

AROUND EVERY TURN

Each side of the road covered

In wild garlic around every turn I pass

Wonderful white flowers flourishing

On either side there en masse

A winding avenue garlanded in garlic

Low banks and verges alike

No palace could ever compare with

That scene I passed on my bike!

MARGARET O’DRISCOLL

MARGARET O’DRISCOLL lives in West Cork, Ireland and is a poetry writer, curator and editor. Her poetry has been published in various international anthologies, ezines and journals. She published her first collection in 2016, ‘The Best Things In Life Are Free’, it has received star reviews and many of the poems included have been translated into many languages worldwide.