An Australian Yeats Society
Celebrating the work of W. B. Yeats and his Circle
anniversary of the death of W B Yeats on 28 January 1939.
KNOCKNAREA
I walked the curling road
laden with a stone,
a black gift for the bones
that lay on Knocknarea.
I climbed the long blue stair
that countless feet have worn
into the steady slope,
the slope of Knocknarea.
I laid my black stone there,
I added to the cairn
as I was forewarned,
an offering to Knocknarea.
The wind blew in my airs,
the shrill cry of a bird
was all that could be heard,
heard on Knocknarea
Where are you Queen Maeve?
Are you here or in a wave
far away in Sligo bay,
beneath the hill of Knocknarea?
White and blue stones I foreswore
to lay a black stone at your door,
add it to your great quartz tower,
Queen Maeve's cairn on Knocknarea.
I hear bees buzz. I hear birds bawl.
And I hear the great Sidhe call.
I hear the purpose of it all
lead in a spiral from Knocknarea.
Steven Mackin
San Francisco
Knocknarea=gaelic cnoc na ri= hill of the queen.
This is a mountain outside Sligo town opposite Ben Bulben where the legendary Queen Maeve of Connacht is reputed to have been buried rather than at the royal Cemetery in Croghan, County Roscommon. There is a large round cairn on top, and if you visit you
MUST take a stone with you to leave as an offering. Whatever you DO, DON'T take a
stone from the top home with you. One American lady took a stone back to the USA, and three months later had to return to Sligo with it, she never had a night's sleep until she
returned the stone!
At the foot of Knocknarea is one of Ireland's largest megalithic collections of stone
monuments.
Sidhe = fairy.
The following Poem is about mid-summer's day in Sligo.
SOLSTICE IN SLIGO
On the longest day of the year
black smokes purl
curling cares church spires.
There are fires older than Paul.
On the longest day of the year
tall trash towers
of tires and rusty chairs flare.
I ask what I know in my heart.
On the longest day of the year
dancing children roar
and vault through Solstice bonfires.
A fire inspires, then expires.
On the longest day of the year
torch the prior.
Children to the Phoenix aspire.
STEVEN MACKIN
San Francisco
This brought back many happy memories of my childhood in Sligo town. Both prior to the mid-summer day and Mayday, May 1 when we also lit another bonfire to please the Gods! Something that had being done for many centuries by our forefathers we the children of each street in Sligo unknowingly continued these practices, which is why they are still alive today in 1999. The children go around the houses gathering whatever will burn for weeks beforehand! and there is great competiton between each neighbourhood.