Songs about Christmas and being at home

headlights melt forward

as slowly as candlewax

rolling away from a flame.

the traffic this evening

is frustrating outside my window.

it runs up the quayside

toward heuston and past castle-

knock. and runs into the city

and west toward the port

and some of it splits

toward glasnevin. this is late

on a saturday, late in december.

the city turns slow in the cold

as an elderly dog with bad legs

getting up off the sofa. below me

pedestrian shadows throw

forward and shrink back

to under them, in between

lights. a rat in the river

makes an arrow of wake

in the same way as ducks

do at times in the daylight. everyone’s

going places, or coming

home from them. it’s cold, it’s like all

of the songs about christmas

and being at home. I’ve been at home

for 5 years now in dublin

or so and I’m restless

but my wife isn’t sick of it –

she’s not from here so it’s still

somewhat interesting. in the kitchen

the light is the yellowy grey

of a light as it shines on

the street. the colour of things

which were white when you last

saw your parents. the colour

of snow in the city on cobble

just a day or two after it falls.