From: Home Fires
2. A Stove Lid for W.H. Auden
The mass and majesty of this world, all
…….That carries weight and always weighs the same . . .
……………………………………..”“The Shield of Achilles”
The mass and majesty of the world I bring you
In the small compass of a cast-iron stove lid.
I was the youngster in a Fair Isle jersey
Who loved a lifter made of stainless steel,
The way its stub claw found it's clink-fast hold,
The fit and weight and danger as it bore
The red hot solidus to one side of the stove
For the fire-fanged maw of the fire-box to be stoked,
Then the gnashing bucket stowed.
………………………………..So one more time
I tote it, hell-mouth stopper, flat earth disc,
And replace it safely. Wherefore rake and rattle,
Watch sparks die in the ashpan, poke again,
Think of dark matter in the starlit coalhouse.
by Seamus Heaney
from District and Circle
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006