Tags
"Keeping Going", "The Spirit Level", "The Tain", Ciaran Carson, CuChulainn, farm, heroic spirit, mythical hero, Nobel Laureate, northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney, spirit level
Earlier this morning in the wee wee hours, catching the wisp of an idea that had awakened me, I looked over from my desk and saw Ciaran Carson’s translation of “The Tain,” Ireland’s greatest epic. In it, time and again, the legendary, mythical hero of Ireland battles an invading army. He kept going.
In “Keeping Going,” one of the poems in “The Spirit Level,” Seamus Heaney gave us that heroic spirit in the form of an uncomplicated farmer. It is a heartbreaking poem about two brothers – one a farmer, the other destined to be a poet – from a farm in Northern Ireland in the middle of the last century. For how many decades did one brother till and toil there in the soil? For how many decades did the poet brother pick up his pen?
You can see quite clearly the different callings of the two brothers. You can see quite clearly, as well, that stamina and courage are required to follow one’s calling, whatever that calling may be.
Seamus Heaney, poet, Nobel Laureate, has passed on (April 13, 1939-August 30, 2013) and we here must keep going. We must husband our stamina, gather our courage, and keep going.
May we hear his voice deep from “The Spirit Level.”
Barbara Butler McCoy, c. 2013
[[Photo: “After Heaney’s ‘A Brigid’s Girdle'”, Barbara Butler McCoy, 2013]]
Sole Sister Juliet 
It’s amazing that even twins have different callings and we just can’t afford to neglect our calling to fulfill someone’s-in it we find peace, functioning at our best. Nice piece
Thank you for your observation, and for stopping by. It is a curious dynamic, isn’t it, fulfilling your calling even as you are part of a larger picture … family, community, world. To my mind Will Shakespeare said it best when he wrote that everyone in their time plays many roles. It is up to each of us to know the core of that character and carry it through those roles. Again, thank you!
You are welcome dear. Peace and love