Love is a Labour
By onemorething
- 4286 reads
I wanted to write a poem about a blackbird so I was reading blackbird things and strayed across what must be a very famous tale about St Kevin and then I looked that up, found the Heaney poem and thought I would write this as a kind of (poor) response to it. In two minds about sharing it. I know that I am very ignorant for not knowing the story or the poem, but well, there we are. Here is Heaney reading his poem: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wKGmQcSFbMc
In the absence of a tree,
hedgerow or suitable shrubbery,
a blackbird will nest in a saint's soft palm,
heat constant in the circulation
of blood to willing fingers.
The conditions of life and renewal
can be answered in a hand, open -
even to the blue-green secrets
of an egg; every hand that has clasped
another's knows that life is delicate,
that love is vital.
A blackbird's song is held
by the wind too, and bound to it
whilst it sings itself into a quiet autumn,
a boundary called to exhaustion
in the toil over fledgling
after fledgling.
A blackbird consigns its ouzel thoughts
of new wings and conversations
with the dead to the hollow
of winter when there is time,
when the air is thinned and permeable,
a blackbird does not need to be a saint
to understand that love is a labour
and that love is as urgent as it ever was.
Image is from pixabay.
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Comments
Such a beautiful poem -don't
Such a beautiful poem -don't know the others, but this is lovely imagetics, delicate, cold, tender saint to a hearty end, satisfying poem.
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Heaney and Hughs and a few others
I'd like to read now and then there would be nothing left to write about!?! -heaney tip is nice idea, I ahvent read enough of him, he's aces. and i think your poem's chillybits are cool! ! Can't see where needs any snippity edits
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Beautiful Poem
I really loved your poem. I appreciate your sharing of the things that brought you to write it, I loved your imagery and the story the poem told.
Bravo!
Stains..
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in the underearth we find the
in the underearth we find the hollow of our heart. I'm glad you wrote this. Heaney would be too. Creation must have many branches or it grows sterile.
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I bet he would be really
I bet he would be really happy too! He was a teacher, would want to inspire?
I love singing into a quiet Autumn. I had not thought of Winter as being a boundary to the exhaustion of rearing young, had always thought of it as a time of struggle. Maybe it is when they have time to think up the songs they sing in Spring?
Thought provoking poem!
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It is beautiful. I didn't
It is beautiful. I didn't know what 'ouzel' meant. It's a lovely word.
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What a wonderful poem to come back to
after my absence of three weeks due to getting involved in helping a friend to up sticks and move.
It's been a stressful time and just reading this poem brought me a little closer to Earth.
Thank you x
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Well - this was a popular
Well - this was a popular piece onemore - as well it should be - it's beautiful and I knew neither the legend nor the Heaney poem so thank you for sharing that too!
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This is our Poem of the Week
This is our Poem of the Week - Congratulations!
it's also our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day
Please share/retweet if you enjoyed it as much as I have.
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"thin and permeable air".
"thin and permeable air". Beautiful poem. Loved it.
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This is our Poem of the Month
This is our Poem of the Month - Congratulations!
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really lovely poem - i had
really lovely poem - i had blackbirds nesting in my courtyard for years - sometimes two or three clutches in a year - totally love them and this sums them up so well and so sensitively - dont be too self effacing
sylviec
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