Seamus Heaney -- In Memoriam M.K.H., 1911-1984

   When all the others were away at Mass
   I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.
   They broke the silence, let fall one by one
   Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:
   Cold comforts set between us, things to share
   Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.
   And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes
   From each other's work would bring us to our senses.

   So while the parish priest at her bedside
   Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying
   And some were responding and some crying
   I remembered her head bent towards my head,
   Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives--
   Never closer the whole rest of our lives.