I heard them
They described me like an object
My cap badge
Teeth
Something called DNA
My bones are a nest for crows
A place of birth
Still safe
I have to laugh
I am not that
All that
What they describe
I am the universe now
I am spirit and soul’s memory Kathleen
Kathleen
Kath Hanagan
I fancied her and her me
I can still feel the first time we touched
Dead now
But the memory of that feeling is the life I lived
Spirit and soul
We had our place
Down by the bend in the river
Where it leaves the town
To snake on down forever south
She was educated Kathleen
Knew the bible and other books too
Not like me
Rough lad I was
She taught me Kathleen did
So I became the love we had
All soft round the edges
I think of her and mum and dad
Davy, Annie in the kitchen at home
Mum singing one of her Irish songs
In that beautiful soft voice of hers
The eggs have hatched in the nest now
Another batch of baby crows trying to open their eyes
Amongst the twigs and dry grass
All sheltered in the bower of my bones Kathleen
I wonder Kathleen are you sheltered in your own bower
Not this DNA thing
So much more
So much more
Than cap badges and teeth
More than fine words and tears
The last post
Faded pictures
My bones a nest for crows Kathleen