Homage to Hieronymus Bosch by Thomas MacGreevy

A woman with no face walked into the light ;

A boy, in a brown-tree norfolk suit holding on

A boy, in a brown-tree norfolk suit ,
Holding on without hands to her seeming skirt.

Without hands
To her seeming skirt.




She stopped

She stopped ,

And he stopped

And he stopped ,

And I, in terror, stopped, staring.

And I, in terror, stopped, staring.




Then I saw a half-circle of shadowy figures behind her.

Then I saw a group of shadowy figures behind her.




It was a wild wet morning ,

It was a wild wet morning

The little world was moving

But the little world was spinning on.




And she addressed it .

Liplessly, somehow, she addressed it :

The book must be opened g Perhaps a reference to the opening of the book with seven seals: 'Who is worthy to open the book? . . . And no man was able . . . to open the book, nor to look on it . . . . [but] one of the ancients said to me: Weep not; behold . . . the root of David hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof' (Apocalypse 5:2-5). The opening of the book was one of the scripture readings at Mass for the 31st of October, the eve of the feast of All Saints (All Hallows) and of Kevin Barry's execution. The phrase may also refer to the resentment of some nationalists to the Book of Kells being held by Trinity College, Dublin. -- And the park too. g 'The park here has to do symbolically with the four green fields of Irish tradition and more particularly with the Dublin squares that are still closed except to residents.'

The book must be opened g Perhaps a reference to the opening of the book with seven seals: 'Who is worthy to open the book? . . . And no man was able . . . to open the book, nor to look on it . . . . [but] one of the ancients said to me: Weep not; behold . . . the root of David hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof' (Apocalypse 5:2-5). The opening of the book was one of the scripture readings at Mass for the 31st of October, the eve of the feast of All Saints (All Hallows) and of Kevin Barry's execution. The phrase may also refer to the resentment of some nationalists to the Book of Kells being held by Trinity College, Dublin.
And the park too. g ' The park here has to do symbolically with the four green fields of Irish tradition and more particularly with the Dublin squares that are still closed except to residents.'



That was what, liplessly, somehow, she articulated.


I might have tittered

I might have tittered

But my teeth chattered

But my teeth chattered

And then I saw that the words, as they fell,

And I saw that the words, as they fell, lay , wriggling, on the ground.

Lay , wriggling, on the ground.




There was a stir of wet wind

There was a stir of wet wind

And the shadowy figures began to stir

And the shadowy figures began to stir

When , another, one who had seemed dead ,

When one I had thought dead

Raised himself slowly out of his great effigy on a tomb near by .

Filmed slowly out of his great effigy on a tomb near by

Then they all shuddered .

And they all shuddered

He bent as if to speak to the woman her

He bent as if to speak to the woman

But the nursery governor c John Bernard, the Provost of Trinity College Dublin. flew up out of the well of Saint Patrick,

But the nursery governor c John Bernard, the Provost of Trinity College Dublin. flew up out of the well of Saint Patrick,




Confiscated by his mistress g Queen Elizabeth I founded Trinity College, Dublin on lands confiscated from the Priory of All Hallows. Here regarded as the 'nursery governor's' (i.e. the provost's) mistress. ,

And -- his head bent,

And , his head bent,

Staring out over his spectacles,

Staring out over his spectacles,

And scratching the gravel furiously --

And scratching the gravel furiously ,

Hissed , (the words shooting upwards past his spectacles ):

Hissed -- The words went pingg! like bullets, Upwards past his spectacles --

Say nothing, I say, say nothing, say nothing!

Say nothing, I say, say nothing, say nothing!

Category:

Entertainment

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• Homage
• to
• Hieronymus
• Bosch
• by
• Thomas
• MacGreevy
• hartistry
• david
• hart
• poetry

[hartistry]

There was rat laughter, Deeper here and there,

And occasionally she-rats grew hysterical.

The shadowy figures looked on, agonized.

The woman with no face gave a cry and collapsed.

The rats danced on her

And on the wriggling words

Smirking.

The nursery governor flew back into the well

With the little figure without hands in the brown-tree clothes.

[hartistry]

Began hysterically, to laugh and cry, And, with a gesture of impotent and half-petulant despair, Filmed back into his effigy again. High above the Bank of Ireland Unearthly music sounded, Passing westwards. Then, from the drains, Small sewage rats slid out. They numbered hundreds of hundreds, tens, thousands. Each bowed obsequiously to the shadowy figures Then turned and joined in a stomach dance with his brothers and sisters. Being a multitude, they dance

[beingcelebrated]

T gray sea and t long black land And the yellow half-moon large and low And the startled little waves that leap In fiery ringlets from their sleep As I gain the cove with pushing prow, And quench its speed i the slushy sand. Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach; Three fields to cross till a farm appears A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch And blue spurt of a lighted match And a voice less loud through its joys and fears Than the two hearts beating each to each