Liffey
For Shane McGowan (1957 - 2023)
Broken poet, glorious mess,
Penny-whistle novelist,
Dublin's Boy.
Bellow at the sun,
serenade the moon,
Human comedy, wrought
into runcible tune.
A river of tears and pails of piss,
Uproarious laughter thumping bars,
Trays crashed, pint glasses smashed
Into diamonds that scar
and hang like medallions.
Lurching and flailing,
Exalted, elating,
You fell to climb
The ladder
Of song to the Stars.
Rest easy, Shane. You were one in a billion.