Station Road by Irish poet Pat Boran’s is an invitation to slow things down, a poem about living in the moment, about getting our racing imaginations back in sync with our breathing. It's about fully inhabiting the necessary small moments of stillness in our day. It was recorded at the level crossing on Station Road, Sutton, Dublin 13, Ireland.
STATION ROAD
There is that moment when the barrier comes down
on Station Road, when the train to Howth has passed
and nothing happens; when the men in lycra vests
and shorts on their blade-thin wheels look round
and through each other; when the yummy mums
with their dozy, school-bound offspring by their sides
or trussed up in the seats behind like dolls,
glance down one more time to check the time;
when the very birds up on that ever slack
tangle of cables shuffle two steps left
or one step right; when the sea retreats
and only sunlight advances along the track;
when something in the chest unlocks or shifts,
and you find you’re no longer waiting; when the barrier lifts.
(From Then Again, Dedalus Press, 2019)
Please SUBSCRIBE for new videos as they're published: bit.ly/3A14mOj
Many thanks to all the film festivals, physical and online, that have selected Station Road including Irish Film From Home (London), New York Flash Film Festival, Pune Short Film Festival, Shine International Film Festival, Kerala Short Film Festival, Bloomsday Film Festival 2022, and the Berlin Flash Film Festival 2021.
And, with sincere thanks to Gerardo Gambolini, here's his Spanish translation of the poem.
STATION ROAD
Está ese momento cuando baja la barrera en Station Road,
cuando pasó el tren a Howth y no ocurre nada;
cuando los hombres en buzo y shorts de lycra
miran alrededor y se miran entre sí
apoyados en los manubrios; cuando las madres elegantes,
con sus hijos soñolientos yendo a la escuela al costado
o tiesos como muñecos en el asiento de atrás,
bajan la vista otra vez para fijarse en la hora;
cuando los mismos pájaros en esa siempre floja
maraña de cables se mueven dos pasos a la izquierda
o un paso a la derecha; cuando el mar retrocede
y solamente el sol avanza por las vías;
cuando algo se abre o se destraba en el pecho
y uno descubre que ya no está esperando; cuando la barrera se alza.
#poetryfilms #dublinpoems #livinginthemoment #howtostandstill
7 сен 2024
