A Spring of Bay
in memory of Sean Dunne, 1956-1995
I
Stepping among recent windfalls and couch grass
Like wet raffia unravelling and beech seedlings,
I glimpse this rundown orchard’s original plan
In the lofty bay tree and the well it canopies,
And drink spring water to your memory and pick
Leaves for the dried beans in your Cork bed-sit
As you appear out of those long-haired bearded days
To accept, Sean, cook and poet, a sprig of bay.
II
I wish I could introduce you to this friend of mine
Who is rebuilding a ruined flax mill as a ruin
– If it is a flax mill, or a mill for grinding wheat
(A millstone leans against the wall) – no matter what,
You walk away from the rainy fields into a rainy
Room, windows that let the winds come in, a chimney
That opens up to a square of sky and ivy. Sean,
Wear like a gigantic bangle the cracked millstone.
III
In the abandoned schoolhouse I shelter from the rain
With hundreds of pupils and look beyond boreen
And hollow bog (the ‘spother’ of these parts) to where
The last turf was stacked for Old Head and the hookers,
And I imagine you, Sean, as in a game of hide
And seek covering, uncovering the eyes of childhood,
Or else, absent because you laboured through the night,
You are the boy who snoozes on the last turf-cart.
Page(s) 17
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