Not to be outdone by Paul Marion over at www.richardhowe.com (he’s posted Heaney) I thought the least I could do on Paddy Day is to post something from my favorite Irish writer Patrick Kavanagh and this one is canal-related. I really like the common-man, earthy expressions of Mr. Kavanagh”…and of course I am partial to Monaghan.
Canal Bank Walk
Leafy-with-love banks and the green waters of the canal
Pouring redemption for me, that I do
The will of God, wallow in the habitual, the banal,
Grow with nature again as before I grew.
The bright stick trapped, the breeze adding a third
Party to the couple kissing on an old seat,
And a bird gathering materials for the nest for the Word
Eloquently new and abandoned to its delirious beat.
O unworn world enrapture me, encapture me in a web
Of fabulous grass and eternal voices by a beech,
Feed the gaping need of my senses, give me ad lib
To pray unselfconsciously with overflowing speech
For this soul needs to be honoured with a new dress woven
From green and blue things and arguments that cannot be proven.
If you are the ambitious sort I would highly recommend reading “The Great Hunger”. I find I can never read this just once; I have to go through it a few times before I can move on.
My daughter lived in Dublin at Pembroke Square across the street from Upper Grand Canal and although our Lowell canals are not all so grand just now whenever I am in Dublin and walk past this bench holding Mr. Kavanagh it makes me think of home. There is a youtube video with recitation of one of his most famous poems and I think you catch the essence of Pembroke Rd. from the photos.
Try to keep the mayhem in the neighborhood under control today all. Slainte!