The Skylight

The back story to this poem has to do with Heaney’s stubborness in refusing to allow his wife to alter his attic writing space by inserting a skylight. To Heaney’s surprise on a return home from an extended trip to Harvard University his wife had managed to pull it off and have a skylight inserted. The poem reflects his surprise and delight at the transformation and compares it to the story on the Gospels of the man sick from palsy was lowered down in front of Jesus from a hole made in the roof. There are times when we need a skylight even in places where we think it is impossible! A light to overcome our intransigence! The light can change our perspective, often for the good.

The Skylight
You were the one for skylights. I opposed
Cutting into the seasoned tongue-and-groove
Of pitch pine. I liked it low and closed,
Its claustrophobic, nest-up-in-the-roof
Effect. I liked the snuff-dry feeling,
The perfect, trunk-lid fit of the old ceiling.
Under there, it was all hutch and hatch.
The blue slates kept the heat like midnight thatch.

But when the slates came off, extravagant
Sky entered and held surprise wide open.
For days I felt like an inhabitant
Of that house where the man sick of the palsy
Was lowered through the roof, had his sins forgiven,
was healed, took up his bed and walked away. Seamus Heaney

Prayer:
Holy God,
we pray to you the
Light of the World.
By your light lead us
into the joy of life.
By your light dispel
the darkness of our fears
and the shadows of our doubts.
By your light lead us as we seek
to share this light with all those
around us.
Especially today, we pray for
those engulfed by the horrors of war,
those hungry for food and hope,
those who grieve the loss of family
and friends, and walk daily in the
darkness of sorrow.
Holy God,
be to us all
a light of love,
a light of hope, and
a light of peace. Amen.