Three poems by John Kelly
At Glendalough
Walk with me a while now
as an up-and-ready sun bids
the blinking world: “Good day!”
in this hallowed place
where two lakes meet,
and Kevin prayed
and studied in his cave;
and where water, wind and light
conspire to cast a faery gossamer
on tree and grass and stream;
and faith-affirming voices
of kinfolk long departed
can be heard among the leaves,
sharing their tales of a time
before walkman, mobile phone
and ghetto blaster could intrude
on God’s and nature’s music. . .
Presenting
(Luke 2: 22-38)
Watching and waiting,
now near-exhausted
by weight and passage
of long years’ anticipating,
you, Simeon and Anna,
arrive yet once again
to keep vigil, drawn
by the covenanted centuries
of God’s promise. . .
Today your patient prayer
receives surprise reward:
new parents, Joseph and Mary,
arrive to dedicate
their stable-born new child
to God, and all God’s people,
setting alight your ancient eyes
and hearts in gratitude and praise,
in hope renewed
from faith-enabled sight. . .
Future-bound
She on his arm, he on his walking stick,
eyes set on home, they make a brace
as they have done for nearly sixty years
against the stiffening headwinds
that sweep an irresistible retreat
of autumn’s gold-brown leaves
along their now almost unknown street. . .
John Kelly is an Adelaide teacher whose third collection of poems A Schoolbag Full was released in 2021.