A lovely poem, very poignant and moving. Patrick Kavanagh was a mystic and this poem comes as close as he got in his writings to the carnal reality of life.

That ravine has a distinctly sexual aura about it though I doubt that Kavanagh was fully aware of this in his conscious mind. He only tripped lightly along the edge and did not fall in as other female friends of his have testified.

The tension in this poem between the poet's art and his love for a woman reminded me of this line by W B Yeats.......

—"the intellect of man is forced to choose, perfection of the life, or of the work."

The choice was already made for Patrick Kavanagh as his wooing was doomed to failure. He was too old for the girl and he thought they could both share his rarified world which could never happen. She now runs off when she sees him coming.

I quite like the line beginning The Queen of Hearts, it doesn't jar with me at all. When you have been as much in love as he was it is sometimes necessary to poke a little fun at the object of your desire and so also at yourself. This isn't a love poem, it is a poem about an enchantment from which you have escaped or perhaps just the poet's foolishness. But having been once on the "enchanted way" you can never regret it. Anyway Patrick Kavanagh kept his wings.