On the Beach at Lackan Bay

She wondered as she drank that the cold sea
Didn’t taste like sweat or tears. Who was Christ
The King that he didn’t need one like Breege
To test his cup for him? Who was so chaste
Her tongue hadn’t tasted her saviour’s skin
Or felt his flesh crawling in the wet grit?
She knelt at the sea’s edge. Washed by the foam,
She thought she heard the voice of her lost lover
Caught in the gull’s wail. Poor Breege was mistaken.
Breege was disturbed. Angels whispered, Come, come
To grief, lie here and taste the living water.
They said he was lovesick. She understood
Their whispering. Poor faithless Breege whose lover
Has walked into the sea. Who was so good …