CANAL BANK WALK
It's practially the middle of February already, which means Spring is just around the corner. So, anyone for Patrick Kavannagh?
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.
Isn't this great? It even sounds fresh. How about 'The bright stick trapped'? Everyone can envisage a bright stick trapped. Apparently he wrote this soon after leaving hopsital (one of few people to recover from lung cancer). He'd been at death's door and so now he seems overjoyed to be walking along a canal. Canals are evocative places, being commonplace/banal (the word he uses), but also beautiful. The last two lines are, I assume, a reference to his Catholicism. Blue being a colour associated with the Virgin Mary (or is it purple?!?). Assume his unselfconsious prayer would be one of thanksgiving/praise, because he's happy he's still around.
The "arguments that cannot be proven" - presumably these are religious ideas that are greater than his capacity for understanding. Seductive ideas you have to 'go with'... In fact, as he says himself, arguments to enrapture/capture his imagination, such as the Resurrection. Because he probably feels resurrected himself.
That's my take on it, but poetry is anyone's guess. If I am way off the mark, please let me know in the comments.
It's practially the middle of February already, which means Spring is just around the corner. So, anyone for Patrick Kavannagh?
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.
Isn't this great? It even sounds fresh. How about 'The bright stick trapped'? Everyone can envisage a bright stick trapped. Apparently he wrote this soon after leaving hopsital (one of few people to recover from lung cancer). He'd been at death's door and so now he seems overjoyed to be walking along a canal. Canals are evocative places, being commonplace/banal (the word he uses), but also beautiful. The last two lines are, I assume, a reference to his Catholicism. Blue being a colour associated with the Virgin Mary (or is it purple?!?). Assume his unselfconsious prayer would be one of thanksgiving/praise, because he's happy he's still around.
The "arguments that cannot be proven" - presumably these are religious ideas that are greater than his capacity for understanding. Seductive ideas you have to 'go with'... In fact, as he says himself, arguments to enrapture/capture his imagination, such as the Resurrection. Because he probably feels resurrected himself.
That's my take on it, but poetry is anyone's guess. If I am way off the mark, please let me know in the comments.
