As part of Poetry Day Ireland 2025, twelve poems have been selected following a national call out to respond to this year's theme, May Day - read The Sun's Return by Lorna Shaughnessy below.
The Sun's Return
Waves of hawthorn break on ditches
edging the fields with foam.
Wintering grass that slept underground
thrusts upward to the light.
A blizzard of seed-heads blows skyward then
falls in dandelion snow.
Greenness throbs underfoot, laughter peals blue,
yellowness stabs the air.
The month of May rolls back the burial stone,
the entrance to the heart.
First published in Lark Water (Salmon Poetry, 2021)
Poetry Day Ireland 2025 will take place on Thursday, 1 May - find out more here.
