'This is my day', a poem by Rachel Mathews-McKay

‘This is My Day’

This is my day, these are my choices

These are my actions and my changing voices.

Many paths lay ahead and many paths I leave behind,

Which way will I go, which way will I find?

And you ask me to decide,

You ask me to choose one way.

But I can’t follow a single path, I am happy to stray.

I don’t mean to get lost and I don’t mean to lose sight,

I just mean that I’ll wander through the day and the night.

And when I say wander I mean that I’ll venture,

I mean that I’ll take chances and not live by a censor.

For I am confident that opportunities will lead me to great things,

I am open to life’s challenges and all that life brings.

My heart is wide open to embrace and to share,

And my mind is as hungry to learn and to dare.’

by Rachel Mathews-McKay,

Dublin, Ireland

Biography: Rachel Mathews-Mckay – mixed race of Irish, Jamaican, Bermudian and Canadian heritage but born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. She has been settled in Dublin, Ireland for the past 21 years where, since 2001 she has been a librarian in the prestigious University of Trinity College Dublin, an institute she proudly represents as a recently elected College Board member and Director. Rachel is a highly creative person who appears to use every hour possible for multiple interests including abstract oil painting and designing mixed media handmade greetings cards. She is currently Chairperson of Gloria LGBT+ Choir and sings as an alto, alongside her life partner Jane. A budding genealogist Rachel has been extensively researching her own and others' family tree’s for the past 12 years, enjoying the thrill of the DNA and research hunt. Travel and experiencing new cultures was always her number one passion – it still is but for the foreseeable future it is safely limited to watching documentaries, painting/embroidering inspirational landscapes and reminiscing through journaling all the adventures she has already been on.