This poem is taken from PN Review 36, Volume 10 Number 4, March - April 1984.

An Image from Beckett

Derek Mahon

In that instant
There was a sea, far off,
As bright as lettuce,

A northern landscape
And a huddle
Of houses along the shore.

Also, I think, a white
Flicker of gulls
And washing hung to dry -

The poignancy of those
Back-yards - and the gravedigger
Putting aside his forceps.

Then the hard boards
And darkness once again.
But in that instant

I was struck
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