Dublin Poem by Sally Evans

I loved it then and still remember
the way the city let me wander there,
the smelly Liffey and the drollery
by colonnade and bridge, establishment and square.
Embellished richness, unperturbed by poverty.
A true appreciation of Dublin
came to me early. Not yet ready
for people individually, I had come
alone and drawn, to trudge the pavement,
wondered at by the lady of the cheap hotel
but not wondered at by the old men of the pubs,
who had often seen young writers
who did not yet know themselves
but recognised the city's literary power.


(1990)