February/March
2016
- Vol. 84
A selection of poems from Songs
of Hunger, by Sean O'Neill
THE CROSS
by Sean O'Neill
Greater
than the sun’s march
across his open lungfuls of sky,
stronger than the grind of igneous
rock
under the coarse seams of the
world,
more tender than thistledown
breathed
out across vigorous life-swollen
hills
breathing, breathing, breathing
its praiseful
for you, its raison d’être and
chief demand,
as the world wheezes crimson in
its wake
and the planets run crying for
want of it.
This is love in its unmanageable
nature,
throwing off the confines of
propriety,
leaking out past life’s seemly
contours,
leaping the barricades of sin and
pain,
standing straight shoulder to
shoulder
with the poor, the mute, the
neglected,
to disburden itself of life’s
empty glories,
soothe the rage in the gut of man,
and in the flush of time bring
peace
to even the broken and gormless
undevout.
Such is love, such is the whim of
love,
dancing where the pipes cannot
reach
reaching where all songs of glory
die,
trampling down the duplicitous
bluster
of demagogues on the brink of ruin
and sweeping every vanity away
with the torrent of its deeper
rhetoric,
ancient love that sees shame put
to rights,
love squared on a bloody transom
of trees,
vanquished it seemed, but living
forever.
|
.
This poem by (c) Sean O'Neill is from
Songs
of Hunger, a new collection of poems
published in January 2016, available at Amazon.
|
Like
great music, fine poetry has power that can
infuse the soul, transform the mind, and
transcend the mundane everyday experience of
life with what is timeless and supreme.
Songs of Hunger is an
exceptional collection of poems – rich in
language, imagery, symbolism and breadth
of thought, feeling, and place. Sean O’Neill is a
poet of great skill and exceptional
spirit. His poems take you on a quest of
the soul in search of wholeness, healing,
cleansing, and discovering a home for the
restless heart. It is a journey of mercy
and hope, love and faith in the One who
paid the price that sets us free. You will
find plenty here to feed and nourish both
mind and spirit.
O’Neill has published five previous
collection of poems. This book not only
builds on the others – it soars to a new
level of feeling and spirit, hope and joy.
- Don Schwager
See previous
poems
in past issues of Living Bulwark
|
.
Sean O'Neill is
originally from Glasgow, Scotland, and currently
lives in Lansing, Michigan, USA. He has published
several books, including six novels, six books
of poems, and a series of very helpful and
instructive books on a beginner's guide to writing,
including How
to Write a Poem: A Beginner's Guide.
|
. |