' ' ' ' ' 'All One(For Me Old Pal Al)

This one drunk as a skunk. This one piss on his pants... embarrassed. This one a Papist. This one a Prod. This one an unmitigated bigot. This one a right racist. This one madly in love. This one lonely. This one puking in the loo. This one on the pull. This one buying cherry flavoured condoms. This one with the birth mark splashed across half his face. This one yawning. This one with the shy smile. This one ordering a Horse’s neck. “Make it quick! ” Gulps. Finishes it in one. Orders another. This one going to the loo to escape the next round. No one paying much mind to the goals scored in silence on the turned down telly another dimension a world away background to their ordinary day. People as noise human white static. Laughter exploding here & there in clusters. The new barmaid looking flustered. It is 2.30 by the clock on the wall. It’s been 2.30 for hours. No one’s noticed the stopped clock. All one now as the bomb ...goes off. ****** DUTY (for my old pal Al) The child clasps her father's hand in hers leading him on to where the ice creams are. He laughs pulled along by her eagerness. A giant lead by a dwarf. But now he must lie down in the posture of his death as if he slept the sky a blue so still not a breath of wind disturbs the terrible howling a child looking for her hands. The bomb has done its duty.