But today the garden dreamer is sobbing because he’s been toldto carry his garden elsewhere again and he is too tiredbecause he has been everywhere and nowhere in this placethat is everywhere and nowhere and there is nowhere to gobetween the wall and the sea except to the end of this poemthat ends by the wall on one side and the sea on the otherwith nothing but wreckage between them. Why can’t he have a garden, no matter how small,the size of a bed, a flag or even a poem with roomfor ten-year-old dreamers of paradise gardens,with room for heavenly tomatoes, mint, cilantro, dill, basil? Eva Bourke is a poet and translator who has published eight collections, the most recent of which is Tattoos, (Dedalus 2024). Seeing Yellow was nominated for the Irish Times/Poetry Now Award in 2019. She was awarded the Michael Hartnett Prize in 2020 and is a member of Aosdána.

Source: The Irish Times December 06, 2025 22:59 UTC