Come Dance With Kitty Stobling
No, no, no. I know I was not important as I movedThrough the colourful country, I was but a singleItem in the picture, the name not the beloved.O tedious man with whom no gods commingle.Beauty, who has described beauty? Once upon a timeI had a myth that was a lie but it served:Trees walking across the crests of hills and my rhymeCavorting on mile-high stilts and the unnervedCrowds looking up with terror in their rational faces.O dance with Kitty Stobling, I outrageouslyCried out of sense to them, while their timorous pacesStumbled behind Jove's page boy paging me.I had a very pleasant journey, thank you sincerelyFor giving me my madness back, or nearly.
-Patrick Kavanagh
Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967) was an Irish poet. This sonnet was first published in 1958, and collected in book form in 1960. I don't know, I've always liked it. 😉 According to the editor, Antoinette Quinn, of The Collected Poems, Kitty Stobling is an invented name for Patrick Kavanagh's muse.
And it's Reading Ireland Month!
A myth that serves: what a useful way to think of things.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that a nice line?
DeleteI love that line: Once upon a time I had a myth that was a lie but it served.
ReplyDeleteI know! Isn't that a great line?
Delete