We wandered over to Ballytore
To do a bit of killing.
I was your accomplice
On a half-day from school.
A humane killer
Resting at my feet.

The silent fields filled the car
And my empty stomach rumbled
As you sang
'It's Now or Never'.
Farmers waved at us
All smiles, and
A rabbit ran for his life.

In the killing sheds
Our victims waited, stamped
On a wet and muddy floor
That led to nowhere.
The smell of steel
And sharpening knives,
Your hands carved forever
In the soft wooden handles.

© Denise Curtin

This is life, the universe, the world,
the country, the family, in a moment of time.
This what troubles me.
Why?

Tell me little spider how you make this.
You've haunted me and laughed at me, knowing
You can write and sing and paint, yes, and
you laugh at me.
I can hear you telling me, the words
are written in your song. You give me hope.

It's a universal message, yet so small
and strong and delicate.
But you must speak a little louder
and a little more often.
You treated me like an enemy
and trapped me but I also have you ensnared

Take this from my mind and let all
the spinners and plotters and weavers
and planners go.
Let there only be light and no changing web.

© Anne Sayers