Overcast afternoon in February
the cherry tree in my back garden
is leafless, the outline of its bare branches
cupped upwards, classic candelabra,
its lines as clean and clear as any drawing:
and sitting in it are five birds still
and quiet as Buddhist monks meditating.
Lebanon, July 2006: The Security Council Meets
As the bombs explode and the missiles fly
what’s the number of this Resolution?
Is it 1697, did you say?
That’s a long, long way from 242
(whatever you do, don’t mention The War).
Hugh McFadden : Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, but has lived in Dublin since childhood. He has had poems published in a variety of literary magazines, including Aquarius, Belfast Review, Broadsheet (ed. Hayden Murphy), The Cork Review, Cyphers, Great Book of Ireland, Irish University Review, The Red Wheelbarrow, and Poetry Ireland Review. His first collection, Cities of Mirrors, was published by Beaver Row Press. A second collection, Pieces of Time, was published in 2004 by Lapwing Press.