I'm awake at the crack of dawn. My heart is humming with anticipation for the day that's in it. ...

In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan; Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone....

  The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it. It happens to...

Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one’s...

Whack for the hurrah,take your partners  Welt the floor ye trotters shake  Isn’t it the truth...

My liver must be the size of a football. I’ve been knocking back the liquor lately, I confess. It...

Daylight. A uniformed guard stands on duty outside the door of a bank in a suburban shopping...

Liberation is at hand. Qualified liberation, that is. As part of the gradual loosening of...

 I’m sitting on a deckchair in my back garden, watching the world go by and whiling away a bit of...

 For last year's words belong to last year's language  And next year's words await another...

I had a dream the other night. Well, it was more a nightmare, really. Gave me the horrors. I...

 I wake to the dawn chorus and the sun streaming in through the window. It’s lovely. For one...

  SAINT PATRICK   I'm a nine-year-old boy, checking out the statue on the mantel. "Who's that, Ma...

Located between Raheny and Clontarf on Dublin’s northside and consisting of 240 acres, St Anne’s...

Emigration can play havoc with a person’s sense of belonging and people respond in various ways...

I finished off the Clanton Gang just before teatime. Ike was the last of them -- a dastardly...

  Sam is my little boy. He has finally drifted off to sleep. This has taken some effort on my...

FINNEGAN'S WAKE The old music-hall song Finnegan’s Wake was made famous by The Dubliners and...

The other night I was nearing my home after an evening stroll when I saw a strange, shifty...