A west of Ireland company hopes that the way it marked the century's turn will become a collectors' item. T.S. Eliot provided the inspiration, according to Mr Des Kenny, of Kenny's Bookshop in Galway.
He was chatting to artist Padraic Reaney about the progress of arts in the west over the past 15 years and ideas for some sort of recognition of same. Mr Kenny gave Reaney a reference from Eliot's Four Quartets:
For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time.
He asked him to interpret it for a millennium greeting card. He also contacted poet Mary O'Malley. "Both are from Connemara and I couldn't think of two finer people to work on the idea," says Mr Kenny. The result "couldn't have been closer" to his own idea of a metamorphosis.
Reaney's illustration and O'Malley's verse have been reproduced for a limited edition of 2,000 cards, sent by the bookshop to customers worldwide. The Irish Times got edition number 1,601.
Unfortunately, black and white newsprint does not do justice to the illustration, which must be seen in colour. However, herewith the verse, entitled The Otter Woman, reproduced by kind permission of O'Malley:
Against the wisdom of shore women
She stood on the forbidden line too long
And crossed the confluence of sea and river.
One shake of her body on O'Brien's bridge
And the sea was off her.
A glorious swing from haunch to shoulder
Sent water arching in the sunlight,
A fan of small diamonds flicked open,
Held, fell. Her smooth pelt rose into fur.
He stood and watched her from the shadows
And moved to steal her tears
Scattered on the riverbank.
Now he could take his time.
He smoked. . .