A Father's song for a Brave Warrior Son: A Time to be Silent
(based on Ecclesiastes 3 from the Hebrew Tanakh plus the words of Black Elk of the Oglala Lakota tribe of the Great Sioux Nation)
©John McDonagh 2018 All Rights Reserved


There's a time to be silent and a time to speak
A time to rejoice and a time to weep

There's a time to be born and a time to die
There's a time to dream and there's a time to fly

All things have a purpose, each a season, each a time
Now it's time for you to soar like an eagle in the sky
Your life's been fulfilled, your Circle's now complete
Your brave soul journeys on, your body rests in peace

There's a time to resist and a time to yield
There's a time to be sick and a time to be healed

There's a time to demolish and a time to build
A time to be emptied and a time to be filled

All things have a purpose, each a season, each a time
Now it's time for you to soar like an eagle in the sky
Your life's been fulfilled, your Circle's now complete
Your brave soul journeys on, your body rests in peace

There's a time to be silent and a time to speak
A time to rejoice and a time to weep

There's a time to be born and there's a time to die
There's a time to dream and there's a time to fly

"Behold, a Sacred Voice is calling you.
All over the sky a sacred voice is calling."
In the Great Spirit's embrace, may you follow your dreams
May you know perfect love, may you know perfect peace.

SEAN VINCENT MCDONAGH 23rd March 1969 - 28th December, 2017
You were only loaned to us and now you've gone back home. Go in Peace

the hungry heart yearns
the nourishment of being loved
unconditionally

© John McDonagh 4th December 2016 All Rights Reserved
COPYRIGHT REFERENCE: IDVC-ZBAJ-ZW50-DZ3R

YOUNG MEEHAN'S KID

Though birth'd bespoiled
Befixed bedamned
Young Meehan's kid
Begifted bless'd
Filled with
Great vision'd gab

Silk wordings finely threaded
Language beautied
Weaved unspoken
Spinning-wheeled
Tombed inner sounds
Frescoed and head-butted

(In tribute to, and in admiration of, Christopher Nolan: "Under the Eye of the Clock.")

© John McDonagh 11th October 1988 All Rights Reserved 2016
COPYRIGHT DETAILS: TTCJ-UNJX-SRGW-47Q0

Oh, Mammy

Oh, Mammy why don't you listen to me
I've tried to tell you so many times, and
You just keep on treating me like a child
But, Daddy doesn't

Oh, Mammy what he does to me is wrong
But you're never here when I need you, and
You'd never believe what he puts me through
I know you wouldn't

Oh, Mammy when you're out at night working
That's when Daddy comes home full of beer, and
What he's been doing's made me live in fear
I wish I didn't

Oh, Mammy I just don't know what to do
There's nowhere to hide, there's nowhere to run
Well, I'm going to have to tell someone
I know I shouldn't

© John McDonagh (1988) All Rights Reserved 26th November 2016
COPYRIGHT DETAILS: 4MXP-V8IW-HCSZ-PDXB

Watery Verbs

'Flu-ridden poets
Utter slushing, splashing sounds
Of breast-stroked words
As fluid thoughts drown

In phlegmatic, dribbling
Watery verbs
Choking, coughing
Swallowing words

That gasp for breath
And, run like snot
Dripping, spluttering
To a full stop.

© John McDonagh (1988) All Rights Reserved 26th November 2016
COPYRIGHT DETAILS: VQUN-JMPZ-LEKN-JJ11

CRY ME AN OCEAN

Cry me an ocean
In the palm of your hand
Go down to the shore
Fetch a handful of sand

Find me some driftwood
And set it aflame
Mix the fire and the water
And write me your name

Weave me a dream
From the ashes and sand
Let the oceans deep
Transform into dry land

As I hold all the smoke
In the palm of my hand

© John McDonagh 25th November 2016 All Rights Reserved
COPYRIGHT REF: KEXB-PALO-ZZVA-NFIN

OH MOTHER EARTH

Oh Mother Earth,
What have they done, what have they done?
They've spilled your blood, your own life's blood
They've breached your womb, sliced open your womb
And left you for dead

They've taken your fruit, your own precious fruit
They've severed the cord, your umbilical cord
They've gouged out your foetus, your beautiful foetus
And left you for dead

O Great Spirit,
What have they done, what have they done to Turtle Island?
They've exploited the earth, sacred Mother Earth
They've ripped open her body, drilled deep into her body
And left her for dead

They've drained Mother dry, sucked her nipples dry
Their pipelines of crude oil pollute her rivers with oil
They've left Mother lifeless, left her arid and lifeless
They've left her for dead

Oh Mother Earth,
What have they done, what have they done?
They've pillaged and raped you, robbed you and raped you
In their eyes you mean nothing, they've left you naked with nothing
They've left you for dead

©John McDonagh 13th November 2016 All Rights Reserved
(© TZAB-IWO7-RZPG-XOYQ)

Cry Me A Lifetime

Cry me a lifetime of sorrow and pain
Then tell me exactly, who is to blame
For all of life's hurts and all of its sorrows
For the love you can't buy, beg, steal or borrow

Cry me an ocean in the palm of your hand
Go down to the shore, fetch a handful of sand
Find me some driftwood and set it aflame
Mix the fire and the water, and write me your name

Weave me a dream from the ashes and sand
And hold all the smoke in the palm of your hand
Then cry me an ocean with your river of tears
And show me a way to roll back the years

COPYRIGHT REFERENCE: CFVZ-AUQH-UVFY-AJXU
© John McDonagh 1988/2016 All Rights Reserved 2016
Image © John McDonagh 6/6/16