PoemHunter.com   
Twice Shy by Seamus Heaney   
Search:     
Home Poets Poems Lyrics Quotations Music Forum Member Area Poetry E-Books
 
Seamus Heaney
Poems   Quotations   Comments   More Info   Stats  
 
<< prev. poem Poems by Seamus Heaney : 32 / 32 next poem >>
  
 
Share |

 
Twice Shy

User Rating:

7.7 /10
(31 votes)



  Her scarf a la Bardot,
In suede flats for the walk,
She came with me one evening
For air and friendly talk.
We crossed the quiet river,
Took the embankment walk.

Traffic holding its breath,
Sky a tense diaphragm:
Dusk hung like a backcloth
That shook where a swan swam,
Tremulous as a hawk
Hanging deadly, calm.

A vacuum of need
Collapsed each hunting heart
But tremulously we held
As hawk and prey apart,
Preserved classic decorum,
Deployed our talk with art.

Our Juvenilia
Had taught us both to wait,
Not to publish feeling
And regret it all too late -
Mushroom loves already
Had puffed and burst in hate.

So, chary and excited,
As a thrush linked on a hawk,
We thrilled to the March twilight
With nervous childish talk:
Still waters running deep
Along the embankment walk.

Seamus Heaney


Share |


Read poems about / on: hunting, running, hate, river, sky, heart, swimming, water

 
  Comments about this poem (Twice Shy by Seamus Heaney )
Click here to write your comments about this poem (Twice Shy by Seamus Heaney )
 
  Bloom Léopold  (1/19/2005 4:23:00 PM)

I like the atmosfear of this poem, in french we could say it's 'très rive gauche', I mean, there are intelligence, freedom and a kind of 'absurdity' (as Albert Camus said) in this poem.
 
  People who read Seamus Heaney

 
 
  Classic poets in PoemHunter.Com:

      The complete list >>

 
  Top 500 Poems

  1. Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
  2. Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
  3. If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda
  4. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
  5. Dreams by Langston Hughes
  6. i carry your heart with me by ee cummings
  7. I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You by Pablo Neruda
  8. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
  9. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
  10. I Crave Your Mouth, Your Voice, Your Hair by Pablo Neruda
  11. Television by Roald Dahl
  12. One Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein
  13. Warning by Jenny Joseph
  14. As I Grew Older by Langston Hughes
  15. A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe
  16. Fire and Ice by Robert Frost
  17. If by Rudyard Kipling
  18. On the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan
  19. Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
  20. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth
  21. Alone by Edgar Allan Poe
  22. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
  23. The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes
  24. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
  25. All That is Gold Does Not Glitter by JRR Tolkien
The complete list of Top 500 Poems >>
  Top 500 Poets

  1. Pablo Neruda
  2. Langston Hughes
  3. Maya Angelou
  4. Charles Bukowski
  5. ee cummings
  6. Shel Silverstein
  7. William Shakespeare
  8. Dylan Thomas
  9. Spike Milligan
  10. Billy Collins
  11. Emily Dickinson
  12. Khalil Gibran
  13. Sylvia Plath
  14. Dorothy Parker
  15. Elizabeth Bishop
  16. Ted Hughes
  17. Roald Dahl
  18. Robert Frost
  19. Walt Whitman
  20. Allen Ginsberg
  21. William Blake
  22. Edgar Allan Poe
  23. Mary Oliver
  24. Robert Browning
  25. William Wordsworth
The complete list of Top 500 Poets >>
 
 
  E-MAIL THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND
Found this page interesting? Recommend it to your friend!     Your E-mail:    Friend's Email:      
 

(c) Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge..  About Us | Copyright notice | Privacy statement | Help
11/21/2009 10:11:05 PM. #.26# You Are Here: Twice Shy by Seamus Heaney

Home | Poets | Poems | Free Poetry eBooks | Contests | Sites | Submit a Poem | Manage Your Poems | GameGar | Contact Us

Christmas Poems | Love Poems | Pablo Neruda | Death Poems | Sad Poems | Birthday Poems | Wedding Poems | Annabel Lee | Sorry Poems