Irish Poetry
"A Necklace of Wrens" by Michael Hartnett, English translation by the poet.
When I was very young
I found a nest.
Its chirping young
were fully fledged.
They rose and re-alighted
around my neck,
Made in the wet meadow
a feather necklet.
To them I was not human
but a stone or tree:
I felt a sharp wonder
they could not feel.
That was when the craft came
which demands respect.
Their talons left on me
scars not yet healed.