Dublin Poetry Magazine

Dublin Poetry Magazine –

"Life's Grand Dance" by Claire Lyons

(Advertisement)

Read and Submit to the Poetry and Art News
Get a Free Writer's Page at Writers, Poets, Playwrights
--

Home | Published | Submissions | About

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Visit waxpoetryart.com to explore poetry (including haiku and spoken word), visual art, photography, play, and fiction submission opportunities. Experience the thrills of the Weekly Poems Contest.

September 15th, 2026

Life's Grand Dance

(At the Local Shopping Centre)

by Claire Lyons

I sit in my car and watch
youth swirl by me with a whoosh, 
hips swinging, arms in tune
gaze streaming forward,
enjoy! I smile, or did I smirk?
it won’t last you know, if only you would pause 
and look behind to see what lies ahead,
life runs on repeat.
 
One in the pram
the other licking the handle,
who would have thought it?
not Debbie-Ann for sure
who was once blithely 
unencumbered,
mind spaced out now 
tired red eyes gyrating.
 
Ratchet up a notch approaching comes Middle Time
once sublime now metronomic,
shoulders hunch up with the strain
arms stretch with carrier bags, 
purple veins standing pert
age erodes those fragile hips 
chin jutting out maintains the balance,
just about.
 
The finishing line in sight here comes Old Time, 
poppy scent of delusion wafting heavily on its cane 
corded veins now mottled, 
it huffs and puffs and blows down  
beauty’s door to artifice and lace, 
General Custer’s last stand, I see 
still vainly, 
dancing the dance.
 
						Life is a merry-go-round
						Calliope strums the air,
						taffeta and black coat tails spin
						high above the floor, 
						there is nothing old and nothing new 
						pause a spell and see,
						what lies before is behind,
						happenstance who rides the white stallion
						or the pig’s hoary back.

About the Poet
Claire Lyons resides in Galway, Connacht, Ireland.
Read the poet's biography and Wax Poetry and Art publications
on Claire Lyons's Artist Page.

This poem is also featured in Comet #9,
published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.

Keywords: youth, beauty, life

Previously published in Dublin Poetry Magazine:
Where Were You, Mammy?
by Siobháin Spear

Home | Published | Submissions | About

Dublin Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
- Visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions Page to see all opportunities.
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
- This website and all contents ©Kirk Ramdath and specified artists.
- This website and all contents ©Florencia Bay Books and specified artists.
- AI Training on this website is not permitted.

(End Magazine)
--

(Advertisements)