W. T. Quirk – Manx Poet & Writer

Where can you go if you would be alone?

Into the forest?  There you will not lack

For company; nature ...

When winter scourges earth with vicious flail

And nature cowers cringing ‘neath his lash;

When life is taken in the ...

Well may we marvel at titanic thrust

That drives a projectile into the skies,

Defying gravity to quit the earth...

Beyond the sun is the immeasurable void;

Beyond the laughter is a gulf of tears.

The bright facade of living ...

(After Rabindranath Tagore)

One morning I was walking in the park

Amongst the flowers that were lifting high

Their faces ...

What new-made comets climb the murky skies

And each in lurid light their transient rune,

Ephemeral as a whim that ...

To utter pious hopes is not enough !

No unctuous platitudes can heal the sores

That corruscate the leprous hide ...

Eyes golden in the morning sun he sat

Hunched on the garden wall, his smoky fur

Vibrant with leashed energy, ...

Upon a board of squares the pieces stand

Neatly in rows, opposed for skilful war;

The infantry in front, the ...

(From Rabindranath Tagore)
 

Child in the dust sitting, what happy play

Make you all morning with a broken twig,...

Here in past days a hilltop fortress stood

When life was insecure, and lawless greed

Stalked through this Island as ...

Let pagan mistletoe hang in the hall

And holly with its prickles and its bright

Vermilion berries grace the festive ...

Is there a bush more commonplace than gorse,

So undemanding in its humble way,

So sturdy and compact, but with ...

Fair over all the land the level light

Streamed from the west and swept the valley floor,

Casting no shadows, ...

When on my books I cast affectionate eye

And see them patient in their ordered ranks,

Waiting to serve me ...

When the cool north wind blows the hills are clear,

Holding no secrets; every field and croft,

Each tree and ...

To clothe their thought in words most men contrive,

And in such raiment seek to give it shape ;

But ...

When steals sweet music through the summer night,

All other noises hushed and men at rest,

Passion forgotten and all ...

Whether to cut the string and gain release

Quickly, or patiently undo the knots?

‘Tis a decision on which all ...

You who prefer the north be not dismayed

That I to the fair realm where southside folk

Dwell in their ...

Not your proud anger me a coward makes,

Nor can your flashing eye or rapier frown

Instil my heart with ...

One drowsy afternoon in summer heat

We came, footsore and weary, parched with thirst,

To where a tiny shop and ...

End and beginning!  We are always on

The razor-edge between the fact and dream,

The dream becoming fact as moments ...

What feature marks the tragedy of life,

Revealing the dark stream that underlies

The fountain springs of conduct and makes ...

What is achieved without much effort fails,

Although it satisfy immediate needs,

To benefit for long man’s real desire.

We ...

Pain is a signal we cannot ignore,

In no uncertain terms it tells us of need,

And goads the will ...

Let not a thought pass by unchallenged ; hold

It to attention ; note its form and dress.

Though it ...

The grey bones of the rose plants shiver now,

Stripped by the rough hands of the ruthless air,

Bearing of ...

You who want proof, on what do you rely?

Are you convinced by evidence of sight,

Or touch, or hearing?  ...

The waterlilies floated on the still

Green bosom of the lake, yellow and white

Cups sitting on their rounded velvet ...

That seagull, perched upon the lamp-post high,

Unconscious of his perfect form and grace,

Is of created things more noble ...

Seaward there is but light and the faint plume

Of distant ship low down.  Gales from the west

Have ceased ...

If I should speak and thereby cause a smile,

Secret, covert, to light the listener’s face,

Suspicion flames within me, ...

Where Sulby River wreathes each silver coil

From the bare moorland to the northern sea,

A parable of life is ...

The beach is like a battlefield, its sand

Covered with bodies stretched out in the sun,

Some in grotesque positions, ...

(From Rabindranath Tagore)
 

Where no half-stifled fear the wind appals,

Where heads lift high with knowledge full and free,...

You who look long and look so steadfastly

At Bradda reared against the afterglow,

Etched in his outline a dark ...

In early morn when roads are bare and still

And every cottage yet in slumber lies,

When the night dews ...

What shall we do with this fair land which now

We occupy for a brief breathing space,

Ere to our ...

‘Tis not the thing itself, ‘tis the approach ;

The different fall of light whence one has come,

The other ...

Wake me not yet with shrill compelling bell !

I would in dreams remain, untouched by care,

Safe in a ...

Trout in clear water lying, cool and brown,

Nose to the thrusting element that flows

Over and under and along ...

One did what duty counselled for her guest,

A housewife whose one thought was to provide

A table that would ...

There is a gentleness in ancient things,

Old earthenware and furniture from days

When life was leisurely and time was ...

When did this rose have its beginning?  When

Will be its end?  The bud took form and hue

Last week, ...

Why death?  Why this incessant funeral?

Change and decay in all around I see,

Spring into winter, winter into spring;...

December paradox!  The hand of death

That the heart seizes and a numbness brings

To sense and feeling, nurtures yet ...