“Human Beings Suffer” (Seamus Heaney)

Human beings suffer.
They torture one another.
They get hurt and get hard.

History says, Don’t hope
On this side of the grave,
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that a farther shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
And cares and healing wells.

Seamus Heaney, from “The Cure at Troy” in Opened Ground