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Everything is Going to be All Right

I've just come back from a very serene and productive week at Annaghmakerrig, Monaghan, for which I'm very grateful. The weather was bright but cold, the lake as ever draped in a light mist. As I'm going to be flitting between Ireland and the UK for the next couple of weeks I thought I'd post a beautiful discovery I made while there. It's a poem by Derek Mahon and has (to paraphrase Kavanagh), the quality of prayer.  See you soon!

Everything is Going to be All Right

How should I not be glad to contemplate
the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
There will be dying, there will be dying,
but there is no need to go into that.
The poems flow from the hand unbidden
and the hidden source is the watchful heart.
The sun rises in spite of everything
and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
I lie here in a riot of sunlight
watching the day break and the clouds flying.
Everything is going to be all right.

~ Derek Mahon ~
(Collected Poems)
Web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/Everything_Is_Going_to_Be_All_Right.html

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 11, 2010 at 6:53 AM

    Damn. Don't you just hate Mahon sometimes..? A poem that is spot on.

    ReplyDelete

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