In Memoriam M.K.H.,1911-1984 <br /> <br />When all the others were away at Mass <br />I was all hers as we peeled potatoes. <br />They broke the silence, let fall one by one <br />Like solder weeping off the soldering iron: <br />Cold comforts set between us, things to share <br />Gleaming in a bucket of clean water. <br />And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes <br />From each other's work would bring us to our senses. <br /> <br />So while the parish priest at her bedside <br />Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying <br />And some were responding and some crying <br />I remembered her head bent towards my head, <br />Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives- <br />Never closer the whole rest of our lives.<br /><br />Seamus Heaney<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/from-clearances-3/
