Seamus Heaney

　　"Religion's never mentioned here", of course.

　　"You know them by their eyes," and hold your tongue.

　　"One side's as bad as the other," never worse.

　　Christ, it's near time that some small leak was sprung

　　In the great dykes the Dutchman made

　　To dam the dangerous tide that followed Seamus.

　　Yet for all this art and sedentary trade

　　I am incapable. The famous

　　Northern reticence, the tight gag of place

　　And times: yes, yes. Of the "wee six" I sing

　　Where to be saved you only must save face

　　And whatever you say, you say nothing.

　　Smoke-signals are loud-mouthed compared with us:

　　Manoeuvrings to find out name and school,

　　Subtle discrimination by addresses

　　With hardly an exception to the rule

　　That Norman, Ken and Sidney signalled Prod

　　And Seamus (call me Sean) was sure-fire Pape.

　　O land of password, handgrip, wink and nod,

　　Of open minds as open as a trap,

　　Where tongues lie coiled, as under flames lie wicks,

　　Where half of us, as in a wooden horse

　　Were cabin'd and confined like wily Greeks,

　　Besieged within the siege, whispering morse.