"What do I want? Sure God above must know what I want, not to have me
bringin' misfortune on everybody I meet, that's the principal thing. I want
to be left alone, so that I can go me own quiet unobtrusive way without
bringing misfortune on everybody's head. He had come to believe that now.
Let things rest for awhile, and if they go on fair and square for a good
time, mebbe I can say then, Ah well, the jinx has gone now to scrape
somebody else, and it will be all right for me to take a cautious step or
two in the direction I want to go. That was easy. He wanted very little.
Mico would probably for ever remember that moment. He saw Twacky's
surprised face on the ground and he saw the broken bottle coming down with
the light glinting on the green gashes of it. In a moment he would see the
sharp points piercing Twacky's eyes and he would see the bright scarlet
mixing with the green of the glass. Oh God, was what he thought, it has
come up with me again. He saw a Twacky rolling on the ground with blood
pouring out of his fingers held over his mutilated face, and after that he
saw a Twacky with a stick and empty eye-sockets, a forlorn figure sitting
on a bollard on a Claddagh pier waiting for the boats to come home.
He was helpless. There was nothing at all he could to. It would be over
too quickly; even Micil and Twacky's father were too far away; anything
they could do now would be too late.
The skipper from where he was flung the contents of the glass at mate's
face. They saw it going into his eyes. They saw it brown on his face and
they heard him cry, but he still brought down the bottle on the petrified
face of Twacky. It was a wild swipe, however. It went the far side of his
face.
'What are yeh standing there grinnin' like a eejit for?' Twacky wanted to
know in an aggrieved tone. Mico threw an arm around his shoulder. 'Twacky,'
he said, 'at this moment I'm the happiest man in Ireland and do you know
why?'
'Why?' asked Twacky.
'Because me man missed yeh with the bottle,' said Mico. 'Listen, Twacky,
if that fella had got you with that bottle I don't know what I'd ha' done.
I'd ha' killed 'm.'
'You would not,' said Twacky, 'because I would ha' killed 'm first!'
'It didn't happen,' said Mico. 'That's the best thing that happened.'" -
From Rain on the Wind, by Walter Macken
Broken Bottle
I thought I had caustic hands
That whomever I touched would wither away
Death and divorce,
And the leaving, leaving, leaving me
Had me convinced
And now a friend, lost,
Too far for my hands to rescue
A chill night, my heart frozen
Ready or not, to be shattered smaller
The others had hypothermia
Our fervent prayers
And God came through
And kept him through the night
The future suddenly brightened when I heard they found him
"I'm not cursed anymore!" I said.
Mico thought his face burned, burned, burned the world
He thought he killed CoimÃn, Peter, so many others
And brought the rats upon them
'Till the moment of truth
The glass raised up to blind a friend
Twacky, an old blind man at the end of the pier and life
Poor, fishing for his dinner, leaning on a cane
Flashed through Mico's thick mind
But the glass only left a scar
Twacky never knew what he was so HAPPY about
And now I am free
To love again?
bringin' misfortune on everybody I meet, that's the principal thing. I want
to be left alone, so that I can go me own quiet unobtrusive way without
bringing misfortune on everybody's head. He had come to believe that now.
Let things rest for awhile, and if they go on fair and square for a good
time, mebbe I can say then, Ah well, the jinx has gone now to scrape
somebody else, and it will be all right for me to take a cautious step or
two in the direction I want to go. That was easy. He wanted very little.
Mico would probably for ever remember that moment. He saw Twacky's
surprised face on the ground and he saw the broken bottle coming down with
the light glinting on the green gashes of it. In a moment he would see the
sharp points piercing Twacky's eyes and he would see the bright scarlet
mixing with the green of the glass. Oh God, was what he thought, it has
come up with me again. He saw a Twacky rolling on the ground with blood
pouring out of his fingers held over his mutilated face, and after that he
saw a Twacky with a stick and empty eye-sockets, a forlorn figure sitting
on a bollard on a Claddagh pier waiting for the boats to come home.
He was helpless. There was nothing at all he could to. It would be over
too quickly; even Micil and Twacky's father were too far away; anything
they could do now would be too late.
The skipper from where he was flung the contents of the glass at mate's
face. They saw it going into his eyes. They saw it brown on his face and
they heard him cry, but he still brought down the bottle on the petrified
face of Twacky. It was a wild swipe, however. It went the far side of his
face.
'What are yeh standing there grinnin' like a eejit for?' Twacky wanted to
know in an aggrieved tone. Mico threw an arm around his shoulder. 'Twacky,'
he said, 'at this moment I'm the happiest man in Ireland and do you know
why?'
'Why?' asked Twacky.
'Because me man missed yeh with the bottle,' said Mico. 'Listen, Twacky,
if that fella had got you with that bottle I don't know what I'd ha' done.
I'd ha' killed 'm.'
'You would not,' said Twacky, 'because I would ha' killed 'm first!'
'It didn't happen,' said Mico. 'That's the best thing that happened.'" -
From Rain on the Wind, by Walter Macken
Broken Bottle
I thought I had caustic hands
That whomever I touched would wither away
Death and divorce,
And the leaving, leaving, leaving me
Had me convinced
And now a friend, lost,
Too far for my hands to rescue
A chill night, my heart frozen
Ready or not, to be shattered smaller
The others had hypothermia
Our fervent prayers
And God came through
And kept him through the night
The future suddenly brightened when I heard they found him
"I'm not cursed anymore!" I said.
Mico thought his face burned, burned, burned the world
He thought he killed CoimÃn, Peter, so many others
And brought the rats upon them
'Till the moment of truth
The glass raised up to blind a friend
Twacky, an old blind man at the end of the pier and life
Poor, fishing for his dinner, leaning on a cane
Flashed through Mico's thick mind
But the glass only left a scar
Twacky never knew what he was so HAPPY about
And now I am free
To love again?