The poems that touch me are those that distil a feeling, an experience, an emotion, into a simple few lines. Seamus Heaney was a master of this technique. In Valediction, from the 1966 collection Death of a Naturalist, the absence of a woman is felt keenly. It is a love poem, short and honest, longing for the return of his love.

Because of copyright restrictions I am unable to reproduce the poem in full, but please search it out in an anthology or at your local library.

‘Valediction’

Lady, with the frilled blouse
And simple tartan skirt,
Since you left the house
Its emptiness has hurt
All thought.

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Read these other excerpts and find a new poet to love:-
‘Happiness’ by Stephen Dunn
‘May-Day Song for North Oxford’ by John Betjeman
‘I Loved Her Like the Leaves’ by Kakinonoto Hitomaro

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
A #poem to read in the bath: ‘Valediction’ by Seamus Heaney https://wp.me/p5gEM4-4bN via @SandraDanby