Patrick Kavanagh

O commemorate me where there is water,
Canal water, preferably, so stilly
Greeny at the heart of summer. Brother
Commemorate me thus beautifully
Where by a lock niagarously roars
The falls for those who sit in the tremendous silence
Of mid-July. No one will speak in prose
Who finds his way to these Parnassian islands.
A swan goes by head low with many apologies,
Fantastic light looks through the eyes of bridges -
And look! a barge comes bringing from Athy
And other far-flung towns mythologies.
O commemorate me with no hero-courageous
Tomb - just a canal-bank seat for the passer-by.

These words are by the poet Patrick Kavanagh. He's doubly commemorated on the banks of the Grand Canal in Dublin, both by a simple bench and by this life-size sculptural piece depicting him sitting on a bench, which was erected to mark Dublin's tenure as European City of Culture and unveiled by President Mary Robinson on 11th June 1991. I had some time to spare while waiting for the bank to get in some Swiss Francs this morning, so did some blipping along the Canal. After that I went to visit Susan, my next-door neighbour, who's in hospital following a fall at home a week ago. Tonight I was at the National Concert Hall for a concert given by the Salzburg Mozarteum. Joshua Bell was soloist in the Mendelssohn violin concerto, and we also had Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and Mozart's Symphony no. 40. It was an okay concert, though not great.

Now I need to put the finishing touches to the job I'm working on so it can go to the printer tomorrow afternoon -- then I can go to Zürich with a clear conscience on Thursday.