One of IrishCentral’s regular reader sent in this poem dedicated to the late great Irish poet Seamus Heaney.

I'm sending you my An 'Irish Goodbye' - Tribute to Séamus Heaney ', who died in the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin - waiting for his operation to begin.

I have tried to capture a little flavour of his own work as I imagine his final thoughts.

No doubt you will fully understand it, but I use '....I gladly closed my eyes' because he once stated he wanted '...to die gratefully' - also: 'An Irish Goodbye' is from an article in IC where our Irish habit of '...just slipping out' is preferred to making a big fussy exit and possibly spoiling the party, was described. Thanks for that.

An 'Irish Goodbye'

Helpless by a clinical Black Rock
I lie and listen as they scrub and chatter
Now with no Voice or famous Digging Pen
I wonder if I pass - what will it matter
With no-one here to hear the Last I'd say
I gladly closed my eyes and slipped away.... Séamus x