Seamus Heaney R.I.P

[jewel]

Like many, I'm so very sad to learn of the passing of great Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, whose creativity has enriched the world for half a century. You'll be sadly missed, Seamus, but the fruits of your gift will be treasured always. Fare well, friend, and safe journey home.

'Bye-Child', by Seamus Heaney.

(He was discovered in the henhouse where she had confined him. He was incapable of saying anything.)

When the lamp glowed,
A yolk of light
In their back window,
The child in the outhouse
Put his eye to a chink -

Little henhouse boy,
Sharp-faced as new moons
Remembered, your photo still
Glimpsed like a rodent
On the floor of my mind,

Little moon man,
Kennelled and faithful
At the foot of the yard,
Your frail shape, luminous,
Weightless, is stirring the dust,

The cobwebs, old droppings
Under the roosts
And dry smells from scraps
She put through your trapdoor
Morning and evening.

After those footsteps, silence;
Vigils, solitudes, fasts,
Unchristened tears,
A puzzled love of the light.
But now you speak at last

With a remote mime
Of something beyond patience,
Your gaping wordless proof
Of lunar distances
Travelled beyond love.

[Scottishtourist]

"Mid Term Break"Jewel.
I'm sure I remember this from school!Think we studied it for our "Higher English."
I loved English..I still love poetry.
But I'm sure some on forum will tell me that my "auld"memory is fading...and I'm rambling again!
We had an English teacher...passionate and inspiring..Seamus Heaney,Wilfred Owen,Ted Hughes,Sylvia Plath.
English literature and prose was a delight for me..and still is!
"A four foot box,a foot for every year."
Just wonderful...his poems will live on..what better epitaph for a wonderful man.