In Memory of my Mother is a moving tribute to his mother by the great Irish writer Patrick Kavanagh. It was just outside the top ten Irish poems voted for by reader of the Irish Times in 1999.
Ireland’s 100 favourite poems
Patrick Kavanagh
The poem is about a son remembering his mother fondly after she has died, and looking forward to seeing her again one day in heaven.
In Memory of my Mother
I do not think of you lying in the wet clay
Of a Monaghan graveyard; I see
You walking down a lane among the poplars
On your way to the station, or happily
Going to second Mass on a summer Sunday –
You meet me and you say:
‘Don’t forget to see about the cattle – ‘
Among your earthiest words the angels stray.
And I think of you walking along a headland
Of green oats in June,
So full of repose, so rich with life –
And I see us meeting at the end of a town.
On a fair day by accident, after
The bargains are all made and we can walk
Together through the shops and stalls and markets
Free in the oriental streets of thought.
O you are not lying in the wet clay,
For it is a harvest evening now and we
Are piling up the ricks against the moonlight
And you smile up at us – eternally.
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