‘A Work for Poets’ by George Mackay Brown.

A Work for Poets

To have carved on the days of our vanity
A sun
A star
A cornstalk
 
Also a few marks
From an ancient forgotten time
A child may read
 
That not far from the stone
A well
Might open for wayfarers
 
Here is a work for poets—
Carve the runes
Then be content with silence.

---

Lux Perpetua.

A star for a cradle
Sun for plough and net
A fire for old stories
A candle for the dead.

Lux perpetua
By such glimmers we seek you.

 

I have two reading recommendations this sunny cold morning in Dublin,  Interrogation of Silence, The writings of George Mackay Brown, Rowena and Brian Murray. Publ. John Murray (2004). and The Absence of Myth by Georges Bataille Publ. Version (1994/2006).

I am sad to hear the John Hurst, proprietor of Rare and Interesting Books in Westport died this past weekend, he always got the exact book that I sought and I had put him alongside Charlie Byrne’s In Galway for his excellent collection of books. Indeed I had been re-reading a certain book this weekend that I had bought from him in the last years, RIP. For those readers interested in  George Mackay Brown, I include here the GMB website, along with a link to a short Poethead post on John’s lovely bookshop in Mayo.

• George Mackay Brown website and Index
• Rare and Interesting Books, In Westport, Co Mayo