Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Quote of the Day (Patrick Kavanagh, on an Irish Christmas Eve Long Ago)

“No snow, but in their minds
The fields and roads are white;
They may be talking of the turkey markets
Or foreign politics, but to-night
Their plain, hard country words
Are Christ’s singing birds.
 
“Bicycles scoot by. Old women
Cling to the grass margin:
Their thoughts are earthy, but their minds move
In dreams of the Blessed Virgin,
For One in Bethlehem
Has kept their dreams safe for them.”— Irish poet and novelist Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967), “Christmas Eve Remembered,” from Collected Poems (2004)
 
The image accompanying this post, A Frost Piece, is by Irish painter James Arthur O’Connor (1792-1841), and is in the National Gallery of Ireland.

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