Brian Lynch :: Beds of Down

BEDS OF DOWN
by
Brian Lynch

Dublin, Raven Arts Press
1983

BEDS OF DOWN

The title comes from a famous passage in William Cowper's great long poem 'The Task', which begins: 'And now with nerves new-braced and spirits cheered/ We tread the wilderness', and goes on to describe 'the thresher at his task./ Thump after thump resounds the constant flail,/ That seems to swing uncertain, and yet falls/ Full on the destined ear' - a wonderful phrase - and then goes on: 'Wide flies the chaff,/ The rustling straw sends up a frequent mist/ Of Atoms sparkling in the noonday beam./ Come hither, ye that press your beds of down/ And sleep not - see him sweating o'er his bread/ Before he eats it - Tis the primal curse,/ But softened into mercy, made the pledge/ Of cheerful days, and nights without a groan.'

I was clearly under Cowper's influence by 1983, an influence of course that led to the writing of 'The Winner of Sorrow'.

This is the first poem in the book - as can be seen, it has some connection with the Cowper passage, though I don't think I was aware of the link at the time:

The New Typewriter Ribbon

A new blackness, less penetrable.
What seemed to be an afterthought, tonight
Turns out to be the main thought.
Because of this I don't go out much
Any more: a blackness that turns -
I have to look now - from left to right
Or from right to left and back again.

A bell rings. The door opens next door
And John Doyle laughs Ha Ha and then
Come in he says I hardly knew ye.

I set to thinking about returned greetings,
About how writing is the purest invitation
And about the time my mother called
And I was found out in the way I said hello,
Being guilty of what I most attacked.

A new blackness, less penetrable, more smudged,
And yet I am ready now and willing,
Both aimed and pierced.

BRIAN LYNCH

BEDS OF DOWN