Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Atlantis - A Lost Sonnet

Here is where I admit that I have not read any good books as of late.  I am in a one-sided feud with our local library system, and have refused to give them any more of my business (for now), so my book supply has been woefully low.  I do, however, have a fantastic stash of books of poetry, including A Fine Statement: An Irish Poet's Anthology, which was sent to my by my dear friend WHILE she was living in Ireland.  I hope you enjoy this one; it's one of my all-time favorites.  



Atlantis - A Lost Sonnet

How on earth did it happen, I used to wonder
that a whole city - arches, pillars, colonnades,
not to mention vehicles and animals - had all
one fine day gone under?

I mean, I said to myself, the world was small then.
Surely a great city must have been missed?
I miss our old city -

white pepper, white pudding, you and I meeting
under fanlights and low skies to go home in it.  Maybe
what really happened is

this: the old fable-makers searched hard for a word
to convey that what is gone is gone forever and
never found it.  And so, in the best traditions of

where we come from, they gave their sorrow a name
and drowned it.

by Eavan Boland

(love, haley)

1 comment:

  1. How affecting and succinctly put. Good poetry finds a way to describe the human condition, and I love this one!
    Ps I'm also in a one-sided debate with my library. Solidarity!

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