whenever she’d get bad
my mammy would say baby
we come into this world alone
we go out of this world alone
how funny it was
that she chose the word we –
how inclusive!
all of us, suffering
together,
knowing the same
low down, gutter-licking,
earth-swallowing,
blackout blues
misery en masse
the tragedy not in feeling it
but in feeling it alone
and not realising how
we aren’t
