Scaffolding

8 Jun 2023 | Believers | 0 comments

Masons, when they start upon a building,

Are careful to test out the scaffolding;

 

Make sure that the planks won’t slip at busy joints,

 

Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.

 

And yet all this comes down when the job’s done

Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.

 

So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be

Old bridges breaking between you and me

 

Never fear.  We may let the scaffolds fall

Confident that we have built our wall.

 

Seamus Heaney (1913-2013)

Notes from the Compiler

The Nobel Prize winner in Literature (1995), Seamus Heaney was an Irish Catholic and Nationalist who chose to live in the south. In 1965 he married Marie Devlin, and 'Scaffolding' reads as a celebration of the marriage bond. His last words to her were: 'Don't be afraid'. Of his work, he remarked: 'I've always associated the moment of writing with a moment of lift, of joy, of unexpected reward.'

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