stop the presses

[amelia_petkova]

Seamus Heaney has died. I first read his work in my senior year of high school and he has become one of my favorite contemporary poets. I don't have much else to say, other than that I want to hug my copies of "Opened Ground" and "Sweeney Astray".

"They extolled his heroic nature and exploits
and gave thanks for his greatness; which was the proper thing,
for a man should praise a prince whom he holds dear
and cherish his memory when that moment comes
when he has to be convoyed from his bodily home.
So the Geat people, his hearth companions,
sorrowed for the lord who had been laid low.
They said that of all the kings upon the earth
he was the man most gracious and fair-minded,
kindest to his people and keenest to win fame."

--"Beowulf", translated by Seamus Heaney