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#7 of the Glanmore Sonnets

Posted on January 8, 2008 10:05 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)


Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea:
Green, swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux
Conjured by that strong gale-warning voice,
Collapse into a sibilant penumbra.
Midnight and closedown. Sirens of the tundra,
Of eel-road, seal-road, keel-road, whale-road, raise
Their wind-compounded keen behind the baize
And drive the trawlers to the lee of Wicklow.
L'Etoile, Le Guillemot, La Belle Helene
Nursed their bright names this morning in the bay
That toiled like mortar. It was marvellous
And actual, I said out loud, 'A haven,'
The word deepening, clearing, like the sky
Elsewhere on Minches, Cromarty, The Faroes.


Seamus Heany,
from Field Work (1979):

If you haven't heard the BBC's shipping forecast, this poem won't mean quite as much
to you. I heartily recommend you go to BBC.org and check it out.

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