Writers

Austin Clarke

Pilgrimage (1932) Clonmacnoise

. . . Grey holdings of rain / Had grown less with the fields / As we came to that blessed place / Where hail and honey meet. / O Clonmacnoise was crossed With light: those cloistered scholars / Whose knowledge of the gospel / Is cast as metal in pure voices / Were all rejoicing daily / And cunning hands with cold and jewels / Brought chalices to flame.