‘Ireland’ by Richard Ryan

Ireland

That ragged
leaking raft held
between sea and sea

its long
forgotten cable melting
into deeper darkness where,

at the root
of it, the slow
sea circles and chews.

Nightly the dark-
ness lands like hands
to mine downward. springing

tiny leaks
till dawn finds
field is bog, bog lake.

by Richard Ryan

Ravenswood. The Dolmen Press , publ. 1973