Charles Barry Poet Elegy

Give It a Name Part 1

What name can I give 
To a dream that is uncertain
To people who are unclear
To a feeling I am unsure of
To a message that is obscure?

What name can I give
To voices no longer heard
Advice no longer given
Words no longer spoken
Questions no longer asked?
What name can I give 
To an envelope without a letter
To a crossword without clues
To a jigsaw without pieces
To death without life?

It is death
It is their death
It is Mammy and Daddy’s death



Dead
Yes dead
They are dead
What name can I give them 
Now they are dead?

If only they would say
“Happy Easter” at the end of the line
If only they could share 
In the memories and plans of mine
If only they could cough or laugh
Or snort 
As a sign of life

Death is the knife
That cuts the cake through
And me too
It is the sponge
That soaks up all the blood
And leaves the inside dry
And on the crust am I
Not cut through
But still in pieces

What name can I give
To the sorrow that comes when – 
“I must tell them that. But of course –“
“I’m so happy now. But I can’t – “


I don’t have any name
I waited but nothing came

What name can I give
To the water that flows through my hand
Making their memory murky
Painting their clothes a wrong colour
Giving their tones a different sound
Saying it’s square when it’s really round?
????

Two years ago
Could I have believed
In this dedication?
My parents
A subject of cold meditation
Life moves on to a new generation
Leaving them both behind 
At Death Station

Do they know as little of me 
As I know of them?
Can they switch on and see- 
Is there a News at ten?

What name can I give this distance?
What name can I give this mystery?
They have passed without my resistance
Into the huts of history

I didn’t resist as I didn’t know
How incredibly quickly they could go
But I couldn’t have stopped them 
Even if I’d tried
Spirits won’t be by bodies defied

Spirits!
Yes they are spirits now
They live only in my mind
And there, ideas grow
Their lives I’m going to show
Before it is too late
While I’m still in this state
While they’re here at my gate

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