Most Read... John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Kirsty Gunn re-arranges the world John McAuliffe reads Seamus Heaney's letters and translations Chris Price's 'Songs of Allegiance' David Herman on Aharon Appelfeld Victoria Moul on Christopher Childers compendious Greek and Latin Lyric Book Philip Terry again answers the question, 'What is Poetry'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 80, Volume 17 Number 6, July - August 1991.

More Mottoes F.T. Prince

(i)

Christi pennatus sidera morte peto
'Winged by the death of Christ I seek the sky':

To understand the claim
You have to know
The name,
Fetherston.

The feather
And the stone,
Taken apart
To make the pun,
Then come together;
And as in Calvin,

Are the heart
Made hard by sin,
And faith by which alone
It learns to love
And fly
Above.

(ii)

The family was called Best;
Like most a phantom
But for the shield and crest
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image