Lord.

Lord.

Are you up there Lord.

Are you still up there

Seated at the right hand.

Are you up there Lord

Are you looking down Lord.

Can you see me

Can you see me.

Can you

.

Holding my dead child.

Dead from starvation.

Can you see me Lord.

Can you see me.

Can you.

Is she with you Lord

 Is she with you.

Is she.

david shelton

Birds

Useless witness

No one saw it falling,

When it hit his head

 he died instantly.

A bird flying nearby

Saw the whole thing

But kept flying.

Birds are like that.

Speed Kills

The speeding car was red.

A rescue worker said

“ It hit the wall, we took the call”

Red car –Stone wall-Four dead.

“The speeding car was red”

A Garda sergant said.

His report, very short,

Red car-Stone wall-Four dead.

“The speeding car was red”

The television said.

On the screen a gruesome scene.

Red car-Stone wall-four dead.

The speeding car was red.

A grieving parent said

“Tell your boys cars aren’t toys”

Red car-Stone wall-Four dead.

“The speeding car was red”

A local pastor said.

A pealing bell, A Last farewell.

Red car- Stone wall-Four dead.

“The speeding car was red”

Everybody said.

But in a jot we all forgot

Red car-Stone wall-Four dead

david shelton

Oak and Daffodil

Oak and Daffodil

Spring daffodils in clusters grow

Beneath it’s low and leafy boughs.

There, sipping clear and crystal dew,

In shaded light of yellow glow.

Both sharing earth with silent grace.

So natures goodness is endowed.

And morning breezes rise anew

To soothe and cool this gentle place.

Mossy green in shaded hollow.

Rising roots all knots and gnurls.

Springs new growth and old Patrician

Show the way that we might follow.

david shelton

Short Ode to Love

The day I fell into love

I fell into life

I fell into living.

Don’t pick me up.

Let me lie where I am.

david shelton

Hurt that won't heal

Does night time always draw your tears,

And darkness reawaken fears,

That slumber through the daytime light.

Then stirring with approaching night

To haunt you as they have for years.

Does nighttime always draw your tears

Does night time always bring the pain?

Will wounds this old always remain.?

A childhood crushed by one you trust,

With sinful deeds to slake a lust.

You’ll try to sleep,you’ll try in vain.

Does nighttime always bring the pain.

Now in the dark you sit alone

Your heart takes on the weight of stone.

Pale lips collect the salty tears.

How many now through all the years?

You wish again this pain was gone.

Now in the dark you sit alone.

David Shelton

Soldier

Soldier  

Soldier will you tell me,

Now  your heading off to war.

Will the people who you kill today

Know what they're dying for?

Soldier will you tell me,

Now your coming home from war.

Did you know when you were killed today

What you were dying for?

Soldier will you tell me,

Now they say a last goodbye.

Do the loved ones who you leave behind

Know why their soldier died?

David shelton

2008

The Trout

The Trout

I wade into the water to the hip.

And stall and strain against the river’s push.

And on the bed those round deceptive rocks,

At first refuse and then allow me grip.

Then when a steady stance I can attain,

And feathered lure is ready for the cast,

A feeling that I’v often had before,

Tells me my efforts may all be in vain.

But banishing this boyish malady,

Determined that the battle should begin,

I survey right and left and right again,

To find just where the gamest foe might be.

From shoulder through the elbow to the wrist,

The power drives the cane to do it’s work.

The “Wicklow Killer” soars before it drops.

Delivered with that final, gentle twist.

A lazy brown observes this with distain.

And did he turn and smile as though to say,

“I know this trick, I know this little game,

It fooled me once, I’ll not be fooled again”.

David Shelton.

2010