the peacemill: irish eyes

hmm, dublin. what a place. as you might expect, i loved it there. it's hard to articulate, but it has that feel, like austin, like flagstaff, like seattle. there are few places that seem to reach out their arms and welcome so unequivocally like these places. cities with personality, with panache, with heart and soul. though it is a city, and large to boot, it feels like a small town. people walk everywhere, there is nearly as much bike traffic as automobile, and the fact that pubs are on every corner. community seems real there.

but what struck me the most was the style of the place. there was a beauty beyond explanation. imagine the european grunge-chic toned down and given a distinctive rural aura and you've got it. i fit right in with my flat cap and beard too. i found myself daily struck by the beauty of irish women too--i seem to talk about beautiful women a lot, but i am a guy, so they are the ones that stick out to me. i would walk along cobblestone streets among what seemed like an unending stream of striking women, but altogether different than i had seen in europe before. for a few days i wondered what made them so attractive to me. then it hit me. i caught myself staring into their eyes each time. that was it, their eyes were deep and bewitching. they seemed deep and moody, emotional and full. so, i thought up the term 'irish eyes' to describe this type of beauty. it's the kind of beauty that goes well beyond the physical, but shows up clearly in the physical.

on a side note, i could get used to the pub life. not the drinking alone--though what they say is true, a guinness tastes better, actually great, in dublin, the daily gathering and unloading of the day before heading home. i could imagine a 'home' pub and daily meetings with friends. it would be nice, although it seems to produce a population dependent on beer. it's quite sad seeing such dependency.