I Admit the Briar
I admit the briar.
The grave rose knots it
Both coiled about in shade.
A padded heart draws barbs –
Worked free, they won’t make
Relics however buffed up.
Full of wist, I need not be.
The fuller world’s not ‘cruel’ to me
More like indifferent –
I am that world. What was it
Flora Tristan cried
In her corkscrew gaiety:
‘When I behold Thy crown of thorns,
Thy bitter trials, O Lord, how trivial
Do they seem compared to mine!’
Poetry Ireland Review Issue 116:
A WB Yeats Special Issue
This essential Yeats anniversary publication is edited by Vona Groarke and includes responses to Yeats’s legacy and readings of his poems from public figures as diverse as Bill Whelan, Neil Jordan, Colm Tóibín, Frank McGuinness, Mary Costello and John Banville, along with new poems responding to Yeats’s work by Irish and international poets such as Margaret Atwood, Sharon Olds, Philip Schultz, Sinéad Morrissey and Harry Clifton. The issue also includes Yeats’s poetry collections, reviewed by leading poets as if just published. Now also available in hardback.
"superb special edition" John Boland, Irish Independent
» Subscribe now to ensure you receive a copy
» Order a paperback now
» Order the hardback now