ABOUT THE POET: widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He belonged to the Protestant, Anglo-Irish minority that had controlled the economic, political, social, and cultural life of Ireland since at least the end of the 17th century. Another reason how I came to know him was the fact that he had written the preface for the nobel prize winning piece of literature and the first ever asian Nobel prize - Gitanjali by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. NOW THE POEM: We sat together at one summer’s end, That beautiful mild woman, your close friend, And you and I, and talked of poetry. I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought, Our stitching and unstitching has been naught. Better go down upon your marrow-bones And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones Like an old pauper, in all kinds of weather...
