Monday 13 July 2015

Quotes: Seamus Heaney

"'The main thing is to write
for the joy of it. Cultivate a work-lust
that imagines its haven like your hands at night
dreaming the sun in the sunspot of a breast.
You are fasted now, light-headed, dangerous.
Take off from here. And don't be so earnest,
so ready for the sackcloth and the ashes.
Let go, let fly, forget.
You've listened long enough. Now strike your note.' "
–– Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) Irish poet
*Source: "Station Island," Part XII, in Opened Ground, p. 244-245

3 comments:

Claudia said...

Perfect! I really respond to the idea of "work-lust." Thanks for this.

india flint said...

Seams Heaney died in the same month and year as my father. The newspapers were full of his poetry at the time, and it was somehow a great comfort. One of the remarkable "word gardeners" of the whirled

Karen Thiessen said...

Thanks Claudia and India, "work-lust" and "word gardeners" are both very appealing.