Masons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;
Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points,
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.
And yet all this comes down when the job’s done
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.
So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me
Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall
Confident that we have built our wall.
by Seamus Heaney (Ireland)
Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1995
April 5, 2004 at 11:46 pm
I really love this poem. I love how the simplicity of the couplets and the perfect rhyming represent the scaffolding of a relationship.