Kevin McManus is a poet and writer from County Leitrim in Ireland. In 2021, he published a poetry collection entitled “The Hawthorn Tree” with Lapwing Publishers, Belfast. He has also had poems published in several international journals, including the London Grip, the Californian Catamaran, the Honest Ulsterman, the Fortnightly Review, the Galway Review, the Cormorant, Dreich, Impsired, the Lothlorien and An Aitiuil. In 2022 his poem “Lost Souls” was adapted into a short film and won the Blissfest film festival in Chicago. The film was also a finalist in the Cork poetry film festival and the Drumshanbo written word festival. It was also selected for the Los Angeles poetry film festival. Kevin has also published eight fiction novels, including his latest, Darkness at the edge of town, published by Book Hub. A new edition of his first poetry collection called “Spirits in the Forest” is now available on Amazon and all other major online retailers.

Tread under the stars of heaven

In the quiet of night’s tender touch,
beneath a celestial shining gaze,
he tread gently under the stars of heaven
trying not to wake the dead.

Gentle as a river’s flow, tracing
the contours of his fractured soul,
he stood, broken, before our very eyes,
seeking solace in its ancient stones.

He yearned to paint the grey sky blue,
to mend what’s torn asunder,
but time, like sinking sands, slipped away,
and softly kissed the earth goodnight.

It whispers, a lover’s farewell, a tender caress,
in quiet surrender,
he finds his peace,
beneath the stars of heaven.