'We have tested and tasted too much, lover'

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

I’ve been asking myself are there people out walking these days who never walked in their lives. And the same goes for cyclists. It seems as if there are bicycle shops springing up all over the land.

On the last Saturday of lockdown I walked along the Grand Canal from Harold’s Cross Bridge to Baggot Street Bridge and then we returned back to our starting point via Waterloo Road, before I jumped on my bicycle to cycle home. We walked for a little over two hours and we passed some interesting buildings and places.

At Baggot Street Bridge I spotted the statue to Patrick Kavanagh. It’s a lovely reminder of a great poet. I read on the plaque that he died on November 30, 1967. He was born in Inniskeen in 1904, which means he was a relatively young man when he died. 

The following day it dawned on me that I had bumped into his statue on the day before the anniversary of his death. It so happens this year the First Sunday of Advent fell on the anniversary of Kavanagh’s death. I’m reminded of his poem ‘Advent’, which begins with these two powerful lines:

We have tested and tasted too much, lover-/Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder.

Fadó fadó when I was teaching, I always enjoyed discussing this poem with students, especially those first two lines. But these days I’m wondering how could young people really appreciate what it means to be spoiled for choice.

So many of us live extraordinary privileged lives, never knowing what it means to want for anything. But of course the flip side of that is that we can so easily lose all sense of wonder.

 

Before starting out on that walk along the canal I had to cycle to a friend’s house. I had given myself just about enough time but was still a little anxious, so just as I was about to speed up I reminded myself, no, slow down and enjoy the moment that you are in. I did just that and was still on time, arriving at my friend’s house.

 

I can only speak for myself but I’m wondering, are our lives a relentless rush to the next happening, the next event, the next accomplishment? Is that one of the spin offs of consumerism? We always want more. Is it ever possible to stand still and enjoy the now?

I think I have spent my cycling-life concentrating or focusing far too much on my destination. And now it’s dawning on me I should be spending time and energy enjoying the journey. But maybe that sense of relaxing in the now comes with age.

During the five-week Covid lockdown I did a lot of urban walking. I stopped at houses and streetscapes, looked into gardens and compared one building with another. None of these places was new to me. I pass most of them on a regular basis but never before took time out to look and think about them.

It’s said that Kavanagh could be a grumpy character but he sure was a great poet and those two lines from ‘Advent’ are well worth a thought.