Ireland: raining goodwill amidst floods of sorrow
Sending kind thoughts and heartfelt wishes to people in the west and south of Ireland as they are battling ferocious weather once again. Families, friends, ex-colleagues, and strangers are currently battling gale force winds, high tides and heavy rainfall and lost material goods, businesses, pets and a sense of security. In towns where walls once stood, water has taken over and it seems as if the bad weather will continue for at least another two weeks. At the moment, Cork, Waterford, Wexford and Limerick are badly affected, but meteorologists believe the east coast will also be on the path of large gale force winds and storms later this week.
Dublin Speaks No Language
Dublin speaks no language I cannot hear with my heart. Sings no song I cannot Feel by the touch on my lips. Hold no love, I cannot Embrace with my thoughts. Dublin listens quietly, Unconditionally. ©Willeke Van Eeckhoutte ©Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2013. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again;…
From The Frontier Of Writing, by Seamus Heaney
The tightness and the nilness round that space when the car stops in the road, the troops inspect its make and number and, as one bends his face towards your window, you catch sight of more on a hill beyond, eyeing with intent down cradled guns that hold you under cover and everything is pure interrogation until a rifle motions and you move with guarded unconcerned acceleration— a little emptier, a little spent as always by that quiver in the self, subjugated, yes, and obedient. So you drive on to the frontier of writing where it happens again. The guns on tripods; the sergeant with his on-off mike repeating data about you, waiting for the squawk of clearance; the marksman training down out of the sun upon you like a…
Faith in Ireland
Good things sometimes fall apart so better things can fall together. This is the case for people aiming to improve their lives, careers and relationships after hardship happens. Sometimes they get there from the word ‘go’ while others may require more time to reach their destination. Having faith is often necessary to be successful and no matter what you believe in – Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, atheism or any other religion – belief will somehow be present in your life. If you don’t believe in your own strength, how will you be able to convince the world that you really can obtain higher goals? With having faith however, self-deception can lurk between the cracks of your floorboards so be careful and understand that your mind is a very powerful tool. Too…
An Irish General… and me
The places that we pass through day after day, or even once in a lifetime, leave in their small way, echoes and traces of themselves upon us. But so often when taking self-portraits or pictures of friends, the places themselves become a softly blurred mush of indistinct semi-nothingness, the limelight stolen by our smiling faces. Take a picture of yourself or someone else as a shadow, a reflection, or a lesser part of a scene, making the background, or — as in the example above — the foreground, the centre of attention. © Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2013. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be…
Ten Irish quirks
Ah, the idiosyncrasies of Ireland… they are everywhere if you open your eyes. After living in Ireland for 10 years and almost 6 months, I still find new ones! Pedestrians waiting to cross the road and staring at the little red man to go green… only tourists do so. You can spot who is a tourist by the look on their faces when they see Irish people dodge the traffic and jump in front of oncoming traffic. We’re a risk-taking kind of society! The sad and confusing look on the faces of said tourists when, upon arrival in Dublin city, they spot a tall building bearing the name ‘Heineken’ instead of ‘Guinness’ on O’Connell Bridge. Despite the huge economy Guinness brings to Ireland, you are confronted by ‘Heineken’ first and…
