Digging BY SEAMUS HEANEY Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills Where he was digging. The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft Against the inside knee was levered firmly. He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep To scatter new potatoes that we picked, Loving their cool hardness in our hands. By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man. My grandfather cut more turf in a day Than any other man on Toner’s bog. Once I carried him milk in a bottle Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up To drink it, then fell to right away Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods Over his shoulder, going down and down For the good turf. Digging. The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge Through living roots awaken in my head. But I’ve no spade to follow men like them. Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it.
You feel the Literature so deeply, that it comes out beautifully with your way of elaboration.. Not everyone can be a good teacher, the art of teaching is not an easy thing.. But u do it with ease, your command over the language and the way you express is highly commendable.. Thank You for sharing the valuable knowledge with the students like us🙏
Ma'am please make videos on T. S. Eliot's 'The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock' and 'Preludes', Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 'How do I love thee' and Eunice De Souza's 'Advice to Women'.
And on the glass menagerie by Tennessee Williams and the beloved by tonni morrison..pls maam it will be very greatful maam and thankful maam bcoz ur classes are very good for learning maam pls make videos🙏🙏😊
Thank you so much ma'am 💖. Poetry itself has delight in it. But after learning from you, it becomes pleasurable experience. Keep doing. I have request. I'd love to see you teaching kubla Khan by S.T. Coleridge
