Maura Gilligan
Maura Gilligan is a writer and Community Arts facilitator in Sligo. Her poetry has been published in Force 10, Nota Bene, Badal and Dolly Mixtures and broadcast on RTE Radio 1. She has worked for over a decade as an artist and mentor for the Bealtaine Festival in Sligo, Leitrim and Mayo, collaborating on numerous multi-media arts projects, publications and events.
Requiem
If an orchestra had played
there would have been
a dominance of cello;
low mournful notes
suspended,
trembling,
but there was no
orchestra,
just the call
of seals
at Oyster Lane
and the moaning
of wind
around Knocknarea.
A morphine pump clicked,
delivered fleeting oblivion.
The scent of neroli
hung in the air.
In the room where
our dreams began
we were alone again
when you left
to wage war
upon the stars.
If an orchestra had played
there would have been
a dominance of cello;
low mournful notes
suspended,
trembling,
but there was no
orchestra,
just the call
of seals
at Oyster Lane
and the moaning
of wind
around Knocknarea.
A morphine pump clicked,
delivered fleeting oblivion.
The scent of neroli
hung in the air.
In the room where
our dreams began
we were alone again
when you left
to wage war
upon the stars.