Angel's share (From where in your imagination)

(I wrote the first two verses of this poem on New Year's day, 1999, in Ballycastle. The angel's share is what they call the aroma off the whiskey in the vaults of Bushmills' Distillery. I felt that was a great concept that needed to find a rhyme. The second verse is about an afternoon spent in Dunluce Castle with Nashvillian friends April, Stephanie and Tiffany. There are some causeway rocks in the walls of the old ruin that hinted at their birthplace. The last stanza was written on March 6th 1999 in the very same place as it all began. It seems to give some meaning to the rest of it.)

The moon is walking on the water
From her home high above Fair Head
Like a light bulb lit up in heaven
Much more beautiful without a lampshade
Like a ballerina she shimmers across
Just gently skimming off her dance floor
Gliding in the waves in her yellow dress
Before surfing up, along the sea shore
And two gulls are shooting the evening breeze
How they spent their day and where
And alone I stand in epiphany
Breathing in the angel's share.

I'm gazing out the eastern window
To these ancient walls' rich seam
Born in a clash of volcano and sea
Erupting from the sculptor of heaven's dream
To the west I see a painting hang
Of natural colour and deepest mystery
Six short days to set up the canvas
Then sketching on by the numbers of history
And friends are taking photographs
Pale faded imitations of what is there
And I stand alone in epiphany
Breathing in the angel's share.

From where in Your imagination came waves caressing
Where in eternity did You think blue sea
From where the breath and depth of ocean
And how did You come up with me
From where in Your imagination came the sun descending
Where in eternity did You think red sky
From where did You conjure the joy of love
And the idea that You'd have to die?

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