SamadhiMuse

                        To Dennis Gallagher
                  "Is he really gone?", she asked,
                  wondering if that was really the
                  question.
                  "No, I'm here.", he said,
                  though he knew he was elsewhere.
                  "I can't find you!"
                  She was getting worried and upset.
                  But she held onto herself.
                  "Where did you go?", she asked,
                  knowing she wouldn't like the
                  ANSWER.
                  "Nowhere.", he said,
                  thinking a lie would cover up.
                  "I don't believe you!"
                  she went away knowing that
                  was the best and only move.
                  She didn't know, but it didn't
                  MATTER.
                  She still cared and loved.
                  He lied, but it didn't make a
                  DIFFERENCE
                  He still loved and cared.
                              Helen O'flarerty
                              Nov 13, 78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                        To the Irishman
            In you
            I see green
            When I'm with you
            Evergreen on the stereo
            Love everywhere
            and harmony
            and disaster but sweet
            victory
            The agony of winter
            and frost on windows
            snow in the air
            and on my ground.
                              Helen O'Flarerty
                              25 Nov 78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —

                           The Recluse
         To be alone, like on a night without stars
         I am a slave to the shadows, dreaming
            in the emptiness of a cool night.
         I am in the trees, where the wind
            visits them,
         fleeing the mystic winter and other
            seasons.
         mine is a solemn loneliness,
            without treasure,
         But nevertheless rich.
         A single gull, afloat over uninhabitible
            seas,
         This place of quite meditation,
            where I know that
         I will love again ---
            despite the shadows.
                           by Jerry Hester
                           a patient with Helen O'flarerty
                           on the mental ward.
                           given to her aprox. nov 26, 78

— Copyright 1965-2008 by Dennis Gallagher —