Seamus Heaney

"Religion's never mentioned here"， of course.

"You know them by their eyes，" and hold your tongue.

"One side's as bad as the other，" never worse.

Christ， it's near time that some small leak was sprung

In the great dykes¹ the Dutchman made

To dam the dangerous tide that followed Seamus.

Yet for all this art and sedentary trade

I am incapable². The famous

Northern reticence³， the tight gag of place

And times： yes， yes. Of the "wee six" I sing

Where to be saved you only must save face

And whatever you say， you say nothing.

Smoke-signals are loud-mouthed compared with us：

Manoeuvrings to find out name and school，

Subtle discrimination by addresses

With hardly an exception to the rule

That Norman， Ken⁴ and Sidney signalled Prod⁵

And Seamus （call me Sean） was sure-fire Pape.

O land of password， handgrip， wink⁶ and nod，

Of open minds as open as a trap，

Where tongues lie coiled， as under flames lie wicks，

Where half of us， as in a wooden horse

Were cabin'd and confined like wily Greeks，

Besieged⁷ within the siege， whispering morse.