Title of this poem? - we are not alone in our loneliness,Others have been here and kn

Darth Vader

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Anyone know the title to this Patrick Kavanagh poem & where I can get it?

". we are not alone in our loneliness.
Others have been here and known
grieves we thought our special own.
problems that we couldnot solve,
lovers that we could not have,
pleasures that we missed by inches. . .
I thank you and I say how proud
that I have been by fate allowed
to stand here having the joyful chance
to claim my inheritance.
For most have died in the day before
the opening of that holy door.
 
Re: Title of this poem? - we are not alone in our loneliness,Others have been here an

[FONT=Verdana, Arial]‘Thank You, Thank You’[/FONT]
 
Thanks. I cant find the poem on any of the web-sites though. I thought it was quite well-known but maybe not.
 
Re: Title of this poem? - we are not alone in our loneliness,Others have been here an

Google cached .

Thank You, Thank You
By Patrick Kavanagh

... We are not alone in our loneliness.
Others have been here and known
Griefs we thought our special own,
Problems that we could not solve,
Lovers that we could not have,
Pleasures that we missed by inches...
I thank you and say how proud
That I have been by fate allowed
To stand here having the joyful chance
To claim my inheritance.
For most have died the day before
The opening of that holy door.
 
I hadn't come across this one before. What a wonderful evocation of maturity and the collectivity..........an antidote to the whining so-called 'individuality' as we slide down the slippy slope to war, famine and destruction of this tiny suffering planet! "Thank YOU.........that's set me up for the weekend!"
 
Re: Title of this poem? - we are not alone in our loneliness,Others have been here an

Yes, Thanks DV.
 
probably had a pint of guinness in his hand and was just about to savour it.:) know people who knew him and said he was a grumpy old fecker. but it is a nice one.
 
Re: Title of this poem? - we are not alone in our loneliness,Others have been here an

From a speech made by Macdara Woods in 2004 [broken link removed]. [broken link removed]
Kavanagh gave a course of ten evening lectures on poetry in 1956

Thank You, Thank You
Epilogue to a series of lectures given at University College Dublin

…Don't grieve like Marcus Aurelius
Who said that though he grew old and grey
The people on the Appian Way
Were always the same pleasant age
Twenty-four on average…


I thank you and I say how proud
That I have been by fate allowed
To stand here having the joyful chance
To claim my own inheritance
For most have died the day before
The opening of that Holy Door.

What I have always known, and what I wish all others could realise, about Kavanagh's final
years in Dublin, is the extent to which he was needed, and how much he was loved.

Macdara Woods
March 2004
 
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