“A great oak has fallen. A lot of people sheltered in the amplitude of the leaf and light and shade of the oak that was Seamus. He expanded our idea of what poetry is and can be.”
I should write a poem but how could a poetaster do justice to Seamus Heaney's passing? He was my teacher in teachers' college, the best one I had, the one who had the most influence on how I see the world. It's a sad day indeed in an otherwise great year for Derry.
Sept 3rd update; a warm piece here from a writer friend with Magherafelt/South Derry roots ...
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/02/seamus-heaney-my-travels-with-poet
and this moving piece from Roy Foster, historian and biographer of WB Yeats. He really gets the Derry tree metaphor although it's a chestnut not an oak.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/01/seamus-heaney-roy-foster-appreciation