Interpretation: Canal Bank Walk

I have had enjoyed looking for Irish poems that fit scenes I saw during my trip this past week. I came across this short poem by Patrick Kavanagh that reminded me of an afternoon drive following meetings last Tuesday - when we drove a circuitous route to Kilkenny. The Grand Canal is still maintained and is a favorite for bicyclers and hikers - it is also mentioned in the poem below. The photographic vignette from in the train from Dublin to Portaloise is out of place, but the [old] couple on the "[new] old [train] seat" have been married many years, so I assume are still kissing - though not in front of me - so it fits the lines of the poem as well.

A canal near the Barrow River

 Leafy-with-love banks and the green waters of the canal
Pouring redemption for me, that I do
The will of God, wallow in the habitual, the banal,
Grow with nature again as before I grew.

John and Brighty on train to Limerick

 The bright stick trapped, the breeze adding a third
Party to the couple kissing on an old seat,
And a bird gathering materials for the nest for the Word
Eloquently new and abandoned to its delirious beat.

Beech trees along a road near the canal

O unworn world enrapture me, encapture me in a web
Of fabulous grass and eternal voices by a beech,
Feed the gaping need of my senses, give me ad lib

Grist mill on the Barrow River

 To pray unselfconsciously with overflowing speech
For this soul needs to be honoured with a new dress woven
From green and blue things and arguments that cannot be proven.

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