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12th March 2015
07:49am GMT

Uachtaráin na hÉireann announces your Poem For Ireland: When all the others were away at Mass by Seamus Heaney. pic.twitter.com/YOGZvAD0Pe
— RTÉ Poem for Ireland (@RTEPoetry) March 11, 2015
When All The Others Were Away at Mass
(In Memoriam M.K.H., 1911 – 1984)
When all the others were away at Mass
I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.
They broke the silence, let fall one by one
Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:
Cold comforts set between us, things to share
Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.
And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes
From eachother’s work would bring us to our sense.
So while the parish priest at her bedside
Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying
And some were responding and some crying
I remembered her head bent towards my head,
Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives –
Never closer the whole rest of our lives.Explore more on these topics: