Nicholas (nwhyte) wrote,
Nicholas
nwhyte

In Memoriam Seamus Heaney (1939-2013): from The Cure At Troy

History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracle
And cures and healing wells.

Call miracle self-healing:
The utter, self-revealing
Double-take of feeling.
If there's fire on the mountain
Or lightning and storm
And a god speaks from the sky

That means someone is hearing
The outcry and the birth-cry
Of new life at its term.
Also, Heaney reads his Beowulf translation: Part 1, Part 2.
Tags: deaths, poetry, writer: seamus heaney
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