Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page

David Moynihan is a writer, singer-songwriter and radio presenter from Cork, Ireland. He's currently working on his first album and his first collection of poetry. I

n 2004 his poem "The Guest From The West" won first prize in the Skylight Creative Writing competition. From time to time, he presents "Words On Top", an Arts-Music radio show on University College Cork, Campus Radio (98.3 FM). He began writing poetry in my early teens.

Nana Fahey (1907-2005) was his grandmother (mother's side). She was originally from Co. Galway and moved to Cork in 1991. She suffered a stroke in July of 1997 and was in a nursing home until she died in 2005, at the age of 97. This week's poem by David is his elegy for her and throughout the poem he attempts to capture her resilience and her sense of spirituality.

For Nana Fahey

'What cannot be cured must be endured'
That was your philosophy,
Knowing your time had come,
Waiting for God to set you free.

Even in your final days,
When death was drawing near,
Heaven now within reach,
Your fate (it seemed) was crystal clear,

You held this conviction 'til the end,
Despite years of misery,
The countless burdens of the past,
Pain, loss and tragedy.

Every now and then, I think of these words,
How they were so wise.
Though our bodies turn to dust,
A spirit never dies!

© David Moynihan