A giant has left the stage.“…Nobody can be sure they’re always right.
The ones who are fullest of themselves that way
Are the emptiest vessels. There’s no shame
In taking good advice.
It’s a sign of wisdom.
If a river floods
The trees on the bank that bend to it survive.
If a skipper doesn’t slacken sail in storm
His whole crew ends up clinging to the keel.
So. Swallow pride and anger. Allow yourself
To change.
I’m young, I know, but I offer you this thought:
All of us would like to have been born
Infallible, but since we know we weren’t,
It’s better to attend to those who speak
In honesty and good faith, and learn from them.”
-The Burial At Thebes
I can't believe he's gone.
The world has lost a poet of the very highest stature.
If you have never read an Heaney I would urge you to do so.
The greatest Irish poet since Yeats has gone, and the world, the English speaking, poetry-appreciative world is much the poorer today.