A youth spent qualifying want and need,
turning away from the expected
with an inner feeling of being different.
At variance with the ordered curriculum,
enjoying the consolation of music.

Schooling was a time-measured
waste of traditional tests
designed to limit creativity.
No particular interest stimulation
and worst of all, no inspiration.

Images torn from backward time
that should have been a groundwork
for expansion of the mind as well
as the physicality of the body
toned and ready for action.

It took the movie “Lawrence of Arabia”
to show the way to an excavation
of submerged and concealed need,
to inspire a passage to the kind of
freedom that avoided any dreaded routine.

Once the passion had been identified
and the familial agreement given,
the pursuit path was paved with
the learning curve of desire
and possibility, towards choice.

Then you are the navigator of the boat
that would sail you across any ocean
and steer you to a harbour
to be roped for mooring
before the next adventure.

The happy accident of destiny or chance,
luck, opportunity, or favourable condition.
All molecules of momentum moving
to propel towards a goal of attraction.
A magnetism of acquired bonding.

The personal tools of an inner artisan
used to design and build structures
which combine skill, talent, art and craft.
A completion of time well spent,
hoping for achievement not discontent.

An actor with a seven letter word of – success
is truly fortunate, in what might have been
a brief and lacklustre career of
fractured hopes and ambition.
But success needs to add – ion – to continue.

Having achieved the satisfaction of the open road
not bound by bonds of turgid expectation,
allowing for freedom of choice in direction,
you can then seek a difference or an edge,
something to challenge attained knowledge.

The choice of characters not mundane,
but existing at the borders of chaos
where stars catastrophically explode
and a galaxy may collide.
The dark energy and matter of humanity.

How lucky to have failure as a learning experience
and still be able to continue your quest.
Not to practise over preparation for a role,
but allow for the spontaneity of character growth
and the challenge of finding depth.

The actor has a dilemma of opening up
while also closing in on a focused point.
It can lead to a period of tunnel vision,
mood swings, and concentration,
resulting in a blinkered mode on the acting road.

Personally, he often needs to break free,
unrestricted and seeking liberty;
restless, while flirting with anarchy,
outside the rules of a caged society,
crossing boundaries independently.

He has resisted authority,
but not as a revolutionary.
More, as someone who would dare
to agitate and provoke what is there
to attempt to inflame a passionate care.

When your talents make you self-employed.
There are some freedoms to be enjoyed,
but you do not have the security
of benefits from a company,
that is the price for autonomy.

To trespass into another skin
and stay temporarily within;
where active filaments which connect
colliding galaxies with no impact,
shape shifting during the contact.

There is the blissful gift of speech and action
which meld in synchronisation.
A blend of feeling and expression to enthrall,
in a performance where parts make a whole.
An audience stunned to silence, felt by all.

“Theatre should be. . . vagabonds stirring the dust;”
expressing Irish remnants from his past?
Southwest Ireland is a place he feels comfortable
where many rural pursuits are possible,
an environment where connection is tangible.

What brings a formula up to expectation?
Put it down to some emotional equation.
An audience taken from an everyday place
and transported to a different space,
for another perspective of the human race.

Does being an actor translate any other way
than being acclaimed in a well-received play?
Fame and success can make one arrogant,
but fades in long-term achievement,
and the respected actor then becomes eminent.

It is so boring to only wear a suit and tie
when there are many variations you can try.
A strong sense of self and originality,
a choice of clothes worn stylishly
by someone who is arty.

A long coat, scarf, or a high collar,
reflecting a style more than the dollar.
A waistcoat with embroidered motif,
not ordinary, such a relief;
being different, as a belief.

The sway of a faded blue djerba
designed and cut with Moroccan flavour.
Bold-coloured linings in regular suits,
wearing trousers that were tucked into boots;
choosing his own fashion pursuits.

Most of his interviews were smooth and fluent
with thoughts entertaining and pursuant.
He doesn’t use meaningless interjections
the you-know, I-mean, sort-of irritations;
while neurons pause in an explanation.

But sometimes he can talk from his gut.
There are statements that he has to rebut.
In an interview his tongue can trip over his brain,
which means later, that he has to explain,
to attempt to diffuse any caused pain.

He is frank about disregard for convention.
He can be opinionated and outspoken.
In spite of what he really meant,
the media seek sensational content,
masking it as entertainment.

Personally, he has a social conscience,
resulting in a left wing stance.
His environmental concern is unabashed.
He worked for a year with the film – “Trashed”,
saying excessive packaging should be slashed.

In Ireland he spoke out against deforestation;
at the UN a delegate for the food situation.
A concern about world hunger and poverty
and problems of food availability.
Distribution of food is not as it should be.

His favourite word is – crepuscular –
enough of the man – back to the actor.
His career range has been nicely eclectic
with the art and craft being symmetric.
Sometimes his choice of work – diametric.

Success, combined with vision and passion;
perseverance and integrity with ambition.
Surely, a favourite topic of choice
with this actor – is his voice,
giving an audience a chance to rejoice.

Which voice after Burton, Bates and O’Toole,
would be able to make a listener drool?
One with a silky resonant sound
that keeps an audience spellbound.
“A voice that makes the trivial profound.”

He chose roles that he could own
which earned a quadruple crown.
Tony, Oscar, Golden Globes, and Emmy;
welcomed peer acclaim from many,
with esteemed actors in his company.

Jeremy, Jeremy, quite contrary,
how did your acting grow?
Independently; within my past,
I was not type cast,
I was able to be my own person, you know.

(Jeremy Irons, actor and activist)