Beneath a gas-mantle that the moths bombard,
Light that powders at a touch, dusty wings,
I listen for news through the atmospherics,
A crackle of sea-wrack, spinning driftwood,
Waves like distant traffic, news from home,
Or watch myself, as through a sandy lens,
Materialising out of the heat-shimmers
And finding my way for ever along
The path to this cottage, its windows,
Walls, sun and moon dials, home from home.
Michael Longley (Belfast, Reino Unido, 1939). Docente y poeta. Doctos Honoris causa por la Queen's University de Belfast y el and Trinity College de Dublin. Entre sus numerosos galardones, el Premio T. S. Eliot.