La Complainte de l’Oignon
Every few years another layer lost
and it makes me sad, peeled in the kitchen,
to know I am losing this game of host,
trailing myself in serial friction.
It might seem like a joke but far from that
I knew a girl once whose heart was broken,
who could never get over the cold fact
that some promises shouldn’t be spoken.
Added to this how life moves suddenly on
how could she know the wisdom of onion?
In time’s passage we go back to the core,
go back to the seed, frail child of before.
So surround yourself with a brown, thick skin,
realise she who holds the knife will win.
Órla Fay is the editor of Boyne Berries Magazine. Recently her poetry has appeared in Hennessy New Irish Writing in The Irish Times, Cyphers, Poetry Ireland Review, The Bangor Literary Journal and Quarryman. She has a poem forthcoming in Impossible Archetype and a short story forthcoming in the incubator. She is working towards her first collection of poetry. She blogs at http;//orlafay.blogspot.com