‘Erected to the memory of Mrs. Dermot O’Brien’
“O commemorate me where there is water,
Canal water, preferably, so stilly Greeny at the heart of summer.
Brother Commemorate me thus beautifully
Where by a lock niagarously roars
The falls for those who sit in the tremendous silence Of mid-July.
No one will speak in prose
Who finds his way to these Parnassian islands.
A swan goes by head low with many apologies,
Fantastic light looks through the eyes of bridges – And look!
a barge comes bringing from
Athy And other far-flung towns mythologies.
O commemorate me with no hero-courageous Tomb
just a canal-bank seat for the passer-by.”
– Patrick Kavanagh