Addition
For Cath
For No. 11 (Parnell Square)
That a few lines
On a page
Might stand in
For old rum
On the shelves
At this late date,
To abandon
Ourselves
To the cheese,
To an age
Dearer than wine,
Must be
The eleventh-hour
Rage
Of the mignardises.
March 7, 2025, The Merrion, Dublin
Credits
L’addition is French for the check. At Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin, I was amazed that a mere signature could be substituted for such riches as the bill held.
Or that such riches could compensate for the age of Trump, far away from its reach.
Cathy’s birthday (an age dearer than wine) fell on the day Liz and Barry toured us around the staggering restoration project of Poetry Ireland’s headquarters, and we understand that it’s traditional to write a poem for the house at No. 11 Parnell Square East when visiting.
The addition of the Seamus Heaney Library (also an age dearer than wine) to Poetry Ireland might be the final touch to the extensive urban renewal planned for the area, the rage of after-dinner candies.