Emily and Ed Dean

wrote on June 10, 2018

Dear Warner, We wish you a Happy Birthday. We are not among your old dear friends and colleagues, but we count ourselves so fortunate to know you and Carolyn since we came to Lasell. To celebrate your birthday we are sending you a favorite poem. The Monks of Clonmacnoise Seamus Heaney The annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise Were all at prayers inside the oratory A ship appeared above them in the air. The anchor dragged along behind so deep It hooked itself into the altar rails And then, as the big hull rocked to a standstill, A crewman shinned and grappled down the rope And struggled to release it. But in vain. "This man can't bear our life here and will drown," The abbot said, "unless we help him." So They did, the free ship sailed, and the man climbed back Out of the marvelous as he had known it.