written by Chloe King. Chloe (she/her) is in her final year studying English with Creative Writing at UCD. She enjoys sunny beer gardens, rollies, and having a yap. Her short stories and poetry are inspired by her experiences in Dublin, and her love of strangers.
The body bag may be used as the inner lining of the coffin.
Is féidir le roinnt daoine seassamh ar thaobh an bhóthar,²
Ó tharla gurb ócaíd bhrónach atá i gceist.³
Doing this with you would bring me no joy.
Ach ní aon duine eile arbh fhearr liom é a dhéanamh leis.⁴
Inner guilt,
And to be ethical merely by accident.
Both sides suffer the same destruction
and have been ruined.
Split into a conscious and unconscious part
Omnipotent and righteous destiny
Has wrenched himself free
From the divine and human law,
The human point of view does not tolerate duality.
We must remember that by birth we shouldn’t fight leis an mbás.⁵
I’m being compelled.
I will obey those in control
chun caointeoirí a chosaint.⁶
¹ Together
² Some people can stand on the side of the road
³ Since it is a sad occasion
⁴ But there’s no one else I’d rather do it with
⁵ with death
⁶ to protect the mourners
Image: Carpet Burn by Tadhg McDonogh-Cunningham. Tadhg is a writer and director based in Dublin. He graduated from the National Film School at IADT in 2023 where he majored in directing and minored in television production. He also enjoys photography and writing poetry.
