Dublin Dossier Pat Keenan on happenings in and around the capital
Seamus Heaney celebrated at Christchurch Cathedral
L-R (back) Laurence Kinlan, Fiona Cunningham, Republic’s Market Manager for Tourism NI, Tara Lynne O’Neill, Lisa Hannigan, Stephen Rea. Front, Neil Martin
Stephen Rea reading Seamus Heaney
Lisa Hannigan, haunting rendering of Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Anahorish’
Back in early February we gathered in Christ Church Cathedral to celebrate the work of our Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney. We shook hands, hugged, kissed cheeks, whispered in ears and sipped wine in affable closeness. We had no idea what was coming. On that very day, buried somewhere in the international news pages, there was a seemingly remote and irrelevant account of a virus affecting some far-flung province in central China. Two months later our country was in lockdown, many of us cocooned at home making the most of it, perhaps trying to cheer ourselves by recalling some relevant words Seamus himself: “If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere” But back to the event, beginning in full social togetherness with a drinks reception followed by dinner in the largest church crypt in Dublin or anywhere in Ire-
19 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie
