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.
— Patrick Kavanagh
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqumK17YFr0gk9x5bn-VrXX2HeWDeY0dfG8EFGd4NVEHGIecHfdd0sPmBpc7F50gGh50f1Y39uAftoIujN0SNU63PrQoE2lcXSOfpIvD8nuAgweGlfjAW9m5zfpyoVN2Lj99FCMWFsmVhQ/s280/IMG_0002.jpg) |
John Coll's bronze sculpture of the poet Patrick Kavanagh seated at the side of the canal he loved,
Mespil Road, Dublin. |
©irisheyesjg2014.