A Disused Railway Line in Navan Town
Stretching for miles and miles,
beyond what, the eyes can see,
ordinarily,
passed the horizon, of richest greenery.
The tracks, overgrown with grass,
and weeds, the steel discoloured,
almost patinated, the wood, beaten,
from the elements and the unforgiving
sunlight.
Two strangers, walked hand in hand,
down the line, until they disappeared,
a carriage passed by and disappeared too.
It was old, of antique wood, unvarnished,
carrying cargo, like in, the old west.
Coming back, to the moment,
the wind whistled, through the bushes,
and hedgerows, the leaves, and the trees,
the wildflowers and the weeds.
The absence, had brought newcomers,
that had settled here,
almost, as if,
reshaping the structures,
compensating, for the loss.
Long Gone
The Cheshire-cat smile,
the tightly,
groomed hair,
the skin,
soaked in sandal-wood,
and alabaster.
The beard trimmed,
the hair dyed,
the locks, cut to,
medium-length,
the picture,
of health and happiness.
However,
the redness,
in the whites,
of the boiling, brown eyes,
told a very, different story,
entirely.
Dysfunction, dehydration,
sedation, drug, and alcohol-addiction,
a propensity, for sadism, coercive-control,
chemical dependence,
domestic violence, narcissism,
wired for destruction.
About the Author
Gavin Bourke grew up, in the suburb of Tallaght, in West Dublin. Married to Annemarie, living in County Meath, he holds a B.A. in Humanities, from Dublin City University, an M.A. Degree, in Modern Drama Studies, and a Higher Diploma in Information Studies, from University College Dublin. His work broadly covers nature, time, memory, addiction, mental health, human relationships, the inner and outer life, creating meaning and purpose, politics, contemporary and historical social issues, injustice, the human situation, power and its abuse, absurdism, existentialism, human psychology, cognition, emotion and behaviour, truth and deception, the sociological imagination, illness, socio-economics, disability, inclusivity, human life, selfishness and its consequences, as well as urban and rural life, personal autonomy, ethics, commerce, science, grand schemes and the technological life, in English and to a lesser extent, in the Irish Language.
