IRISH-AMERICAN-L Archives

From:
Subject: Re: [IRISH-AMER] "Whinlands" - Derry's Seamus HEANEY (contemp.)
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:11:03 EST

Here's another poem that mentions the whin, I Shall Not Go to Heaven When I
Die, by Ireland's Helen Waddell. Not much of a hook to hang a hat on, but any
excuse to air this fine poem.

I Shall Not Go To Heaven When I Die

I shall not go to heaven when I die,
But if they let me be,
I think I'll take a road I used to know
That goes by Shere-na-garagh and the sea,
And all day breasting me the winds will blow,
And I'll hear nothing but the peewits' cry
And the waves talking in the sea below.

I think it will be winter when I die,
For no one from the North could die in Spring--
And so the heather will be green and grey;
And the bog-cotton will have blown away,
And there will be no yellow on the whin.

But I shall smell the peat,
And when it's almost dark I'll set my feet
Where a white track goes glimmering to the hills,
And see far up a light--
Do you think heaven could be so small a thing
As a lit window on the hills at night?--
And come in stumbling from the gloom,
Half-blind, into a firelit room,
Turn, and see you.
And there abide.

It it were true,
And if I thought that they would let me be,
I almost wish it were tonight I died.


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This thread:

• Re: [IRISH-AMER] "Whinlands" - Derry's Seamus HEANEY (contemp.) by

  • Re: [IRISH-AMER] (Co. Down roots - Helen WADDELL,"I Shall Not Go To Heaven When I Die") by "Jean R." <>