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  • Irish poetry
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Irish poetry

The Fascination of What’s Difficult - by William Butler Yeats

{ Poem }

The fascination of what’s difficult
/ Has dried the sap out of my veins, and rent
/ Spontaneous joy and natural…

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death - by William Butler Yeats

{ Poem }

I know that I shall meet my fate
/ Somewhere among the clouds above;
/ Those that I…

The Wild Swans at Coole - by William Butler Yeats

{ Poem }

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
/ The woodland paths are dry,
/ Under the October twilight the water …

The Song of Wandering Aengus - by William Butler Yeats

{ Poem }

I went out to the hazel wood, / Because a fire was in my head, / And cut and peeled…

Human Chain - by Seamus Heaney

{ Poem }

for Terence Brown
/
/ Seeing the bags of meal passed hand to hand
/ In close-up by the aid workers, and soldiers
/ Firing over the…

Beannacht / Blessing - by John O'Donohue

{ Poem }

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

Going without Saying - by Bernard O'Donoghue

{ Poem }

i.m. Joe Flynn
/
/ It is a great pity we don’t know
/ When the dead are going to die
/ So that, over a last…

The Fairies - by William Allingham

{ Poem }

Up the airy mountain,
/ Down the rushy glen,
/ We daren’t go a-hunting
/ For fear of little men;
/ Wee…

Donal Óg - by Non-Scottish anonymous

{ Poem }

It is late last night the dog was speaking of you;
/ the snipe was speaking of you in her deep…

Augury - by Caitríona O’Reilly

{ Poem }

Magnetic winds from the sun pour in
/ and send our instruments akimbo.
/ Nothing runs like clockwork now.
/ As skeletal clouds unwreathe our exposure,
/ panicky…

from Wayside Shrines - by Paul Muldoon

{ Poem }

II
/
/ Had I more than a glimpse of a lake
/ through a break in a plateau,
/ had I not suddenly been forced to…

Mangles - by Leontia Flynn

{ Poem }

Washboards and mangles are on my father’s mind.
/ In conversation he will return to the soaked linen
/ of his childhood –…

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The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
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