Seamus Heaney(b. 1939)
Two Lorries
It's raining on black coal and w a r m w e t ashes.
There are tyre-marks in the yard, Agnew's old lorry
H a s all its cribs8 d o w n and A g n e w the c o a l m a n
W i t h his Belfast accent's sweet-talking my m o t h e r .
W o u l d s h e ever go to a film in Magherafelt9
But it's raining a n d he still has half the load
To deliver farther on. This time the lode
O u r coal c a m e f r o m w a s silk-black, s o the a s h e s
Will be the silkiest white. T h e M a g h e r a f e l t
(Via Toomebridge) bus goes by. The half-stripped lorry
With its emptied, folded coal-bags moves my mother:
T h e tasty ways of a leather-aproned c o a l m a n !
A n d films no less! T h e c o n c e i t of a c o a l m a n . . .
S h e g o e s b a c k in and gets out the black lead
And emery paper, 1 this nineteen-forties mother,
All business round her stove, half-wiping ashes
W i t h a b a c k h a n d f r o m her c h e e k as the bolted2 lorry
G e t s revved and turned and h e a d s for M a g h e r a f e l t
A n d the last delivery. O h , Magherafelt!
O h , d r e a m of red p l u s h and a city c o a l m a n
As t i m e fastforwards and a different lorry
Groans into shot, 0 up Broad Street, with a payloadview
That will blow the bus station to dust and ashes . . .
After that h a p p e n e d , I'd a vision of my mother,
A revenant 0 on the bench where I would meet herghost
In that cold-floored waiting-room in Magherafelt,
H e r s h o p p i n g bags full up w i t h shovelled ashes.
D e a t h walked out past her like a d u s t - f a c e d c o a l m a n
R e f o l d i n g body-bags, plying his load
E m p t y u p o n empty, in a flurry
Of m o t e s 0 and engine-revs, but w h i c h lorrydust
W a s it n o w ? Y o u n g Agnew's or that other,
Heavier, deadlier o n e , set to explode
In a time b e y o n d her time in M a g h e r a f e l t . . .
So tally bags and sweet-talk darkness, c o a l m a nkeep a record of
Listen to the rain spit in n e w a s h e s
As y o u h e f t a load of dust that w a s Magherafelt,
T h e n reappear from your lorry as my mother's
D r e a m b o a t c o a l m a n filmed in silk-white ashes.
MICHAEL LNGLEY
b. 1939