An Old Refrain

i

Robin-run-the-hedge
We called the vetch --
A fading straggle

Of Lincoln green
English stitchwork
Unravelling

With a hey-nonny-no
Along the Wood Road.
Sticky entangling

Berry and thread
Summering in
On the tousled verge.

ii

In seggins 
Hear the wind
Among the sedge,

In boortree 
The elerberry's
Dank indulgence

In benweed
Ragwort's
Singular unbending,

In easing
Drips of night rain
from the eaves.


--Seamus Heaney