Pilgrimage by Aidan Coyle

Pilgrimage

Before me the familiar house

and grounds and chapel where

I fretted and feared as a

desperate teenager and

would-be priest.

I was never here as today,

anchored and at ease,

husbanded with a 

strong-armed former

sheep farmer.

All shall be well, 

I’d say.

Aidan Coyle is a former academic. Originally from Strabane in the north of Ireland, he currently lives near Paris. His academic writing has addressed the psychology of identity, religion and society, loss and bereavement, and sexualities. He now enjoys exploring these and other topics in creative and personal ways through poetry. His poetry has appeared in The Belfast Review.