Seamus and the Rest of Us
After Reading 'Blackberry-Picking' Again
For many years
Seamus Heaney wrote
while the rest of us typed
none of us striking
keys as grand as those
in "Blackberry-Picking."
Not a sour syllable
nor bruised word
in any verse.
"Blackberry-Picking" tells
the rest of us to keep typing.
Excellence never dies
although it may not be ours.
We will hear poems
Seamus is writing now
when we sneak into heaven
and Seamus gives them to
the Seraphim to sing.