As I record this, in September, the year has swayed totally from summer to autumn. A week ago we had a heatwave, the mercury rose past 30 degrees Celsius and everyone went to work in shorts. Today, the branches are swaying in the wind, the rain is heavy, the temperatures have dropped and the evenings are closing in.

This poem by Seamus Heaney is set in late August, at that moment between the passage of time from summer to autumn.

There is a much bigger passage of time here too, though, from youth to whatever comes next … maturity? Experience? Maybe, more than anything, a fading away as our bodies and our lives, like the fruit in the bowl, turn sour?

Where Dylan Thomas raged, raged against the dying of the light, Seamus Heaney is altogether more measured in tone at time’s travel, at summer giving way to autumn, at the fruit turning rotted in the bowl.

As I record this podcast, in September 2023, it is 10 years and 1 month since Heaney passed away.

We still have his words, immortal as they are. More than anything, I miss his voice.

There is no-one better at reading his own work than Seamus Heaney.

I will try to do it justice here, but if you check the description, I will also place a link to Heaney performing it.

You can read the poem here

Listen to Seamus Heaney read “Blackberry Picking”

***

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