Lent

As if it wasn’t enough cycling three miles
to eight o’clock mass on cold white mornings
I stayed in the chapel after the final blessing
too early for class in the Colaiste
I filled in time around the shadowy stations of the cross
the unconditional faith of childhood
drawing me with drills and hymns
to the sealed tomb at the fourteenth
I prayed for resurrection
that the sun in the sky
might dance Easter morning.

Ash Wednesday
years on
as light dawdles
around the edge of a cloud
and seeds of promise
struggle to scatter
I  yield to Lent
a tomb stone thrown back
that hardly matters at all.

Anne Donnellan’s debut collection Witness was published in 2022 by Revival Press.  Anne’s work has appeared in poetry journals including Crannog, Skylight 47 and Cassandra Voices .She was 2023 winner of the Allingham Poetry Competition. She hosts the Poetry Lobby reading events in Galway.