THE MISSING QUARTER

 

                                                                                       

The Missing Quarter

 

 

Standing, overlooking the Formal Gardens of

The Royal Hospital in Kilmainham,

I explained to the students how the maze

Of Hedges was representative of the human mind

 

With the four Muses, each one enclosed in one

Of the four cardinal points, representing

The different parts of the brain and separate discipline.

Then inviting them in, I showed them first

 

The Muse holding the laurel wreath and I explained

How she was the Muse of literature and letters in general,

While her polar twin, carrying a severed human head,

 

Was representative of both war and medicine.

The third then, holding a palette, was the visual arts,

And finally the missing fourth represented the empty chamber.