6.9.06

Grandfather

Derek Mahon, born Belfast 1941

They brought him in on a stretcher from the world,
Wounded but humorous; and he soon recovered.
Boiler-rooms, row upon row of gantries rolled
Away to reveal the landscape of a childhood
Only he can recapture. Even on cold
Mornings he is up at six with a block of wood
Or a box of nails, discreetly up to no good
Or banging round the house like a four-year-old --

Never there when you call. But after dark
You hear his great boots thumping in the hall
And in he comes, as cute as they come. Each night
His shrewd eyes bolt the door and set the clock
Against the future, then his light goes out.
Nothing escapes him; he escapes us all.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

wtf is dis poem about grrrr i hav me fuckin exam 2mo on derek mahon nd am so screwed cn sum1 help me plz

Anonymous said...

is this a shakespearen sonnet or a patrarchan sonnet?

Anonymous said...

This poem is set out as a Petrarchan poem due to the structure but the rhyming scheme doesn't follow it. The first stanza includes both Shakespearian and Petrarchan initial rhyming patterns. The poem isn't stricly any of them.

Anonymous said...

this is about how derek mahons grandfather left the shipyard but he still wants to work "up at 6 wit a block of wood and box of nails" and he just keeps to himself "nothing escapes him;he escapes us all"