THE
RAILWAY CHILDREN
by
Seamus Heaney
When we climbed the slopes of the
cutting
We were eye-level with the white cups
Of the telegraph poles and the sizzling wires.
We were eye-level with the white cups
Of the telegraph poles and the sizzling wires.
Like lovely freehand they curved for
miles
East and miles west beyond us, sagging
Under their burden of swallows.
East and miles west beyond us, sagging
Under their burden of swallows.
We were small and thought we knew
nothing
Worth knowing. We thought words travelled the wires
Worth knowing. We thought words travelled the wires
In the shiny pouches of raindrops
Each one seeded full with the light
Of the sky, the gleam of the lines, and ourselves
So infinitesimally scaled
Each one seeded full with the light
Of the sky, the gleam of the lines, and ourselves
So infinitesimally scaled
We
could stream through the eye of a needle.
From
Wintering Out
Publisher:
Faber & Faber, 1972
Seamus Heaney (1939 – 2013) 'was an Irish poet, playwright, translator and lecturer. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize of Literature.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamus_Heaney
Lines
on 'The Railway Children' by Seamus Heaney
When I
recite this poem to myself,
my spirits are raised with
the serenity
it
radiates. Looking back to his childhood
the poet is again filled with
wonder
at
the world a raindrop can contain,
full
of light, reflecting a tiny image
of the child itself, an
intimation
of
insignificance and yet unthought of
potential
springing from its small size.
Gudrun
Rogge-Wiest, January 2017
