Poetry in a Global Box: Éire (Ireland)

Helena Nolan

My Mappa Mundi

I rise this morning and put on the cloth of the world
Across my back, Jerusalem and dragons, lands untold
Hide hideous monsters; the Red Sea pours like blood
Along my arm; Ireland is pressed as a tongue.

This is the legend on which life is built and wrecked
Eden and Hell still waiting at the brink
Serpents unfurl across each unknown space
Over my face I pull the heavy hood of heaven.

The world is full of dangers; all are here
Jostling for position round my throat
I fasten up the edges of my coat; dark bindwood
Grows, all round the fringe, to ward off strangers.

© by Helena Nolan

The Stnging Fly

Issue 20

Vol. Two / Winter 2011-12

ISBN: 978-1-906539-19-1