Brendan Kennelly recited this poem at the end of an episode of
The Late Late Show in 1997. During the episode, Gay Byrne spoke with a recently bereaved mother who was chosen at random from among hundreds of thousands of entries for a postal quiz. The caller's daughter had sadly passed away due to a road accident the night before. It was a unique moment in the history of Irish television. Brendan's recital of the poem at the end of the show just fit perfectly in to the indescribable tragedy of it all.
Begin again to the summoning birds
to the sight of the light at the window,
begin to the roar of morning traffic
all along Pembroke Road.
Every beginning is a promise
born in light and dying in dark
determination and exaltation of springtime
flowering the way to work.
Begin to the pageant of queuing girls
the arrogant loneliness of swans in the canal
bridges linking the past and future
old friends passing though with us still.
Begin to the loneliness that cannot end
since it perhaps is what makes us begin,
begin to wonder at unknown faces
at crying birds in the sudden rain
at branches stark in the willing sunlight
at seagulls foraging for bread
at couples sharing a sunny secret
alone together while making good.
Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin.
