Between the Jigs and the Reels
Between a jig and a reel
what is there?
Only one beat
escaped from a ribcage.
Tunes are migratory
and fly from heart to heart
intimating
that there's a pattern
to life's pulls and draws.
Because what matters to us most
can seldom be told in words
the heart's moods are better charted
in its own language -
the rhythm of Cooley's accordion
which could open a heart of stone,
John Doherty's dark reels
and the tune that the sea taught him,
the high parts of the road and the underworlds
which only music and love can brave
to bring us back to our senses
and on beyond.
Moya Cannon
