Three Poems

Music in Four Parts

i.m. Fergal O’Mahony

Once there was a box
and the box was carved with an intricate pattern
inlayed with mother of pearl
and the lid was fastened with a silver clasp
which shone when lamplight struck it
and when the lid was lifted
there was music.

*

Fingers
defying vision, drilled until such
freedom comes that the eyes read
sound and the brain is rapt in precision’s
blur and the present is
nothing but the dear, dear air
beneath two palms.
...