Seamus Heaney was a poet laureate of Ireland and though born in Northern Ireland lived most of his later adult life in Catholic Dublin. A regular fixture in the literature departments of the most prestigious universities he was known for his voluminous collections of poetry. His most common themes included evocative renderings of the common life, the strife in his homeland and meditations on mortality before eternity. In addition he was known for the translation of the epic Beowulf into modern language.
Some years ago I was visiting friends in Belfast and was invited to attend a gathering of some of the luminaries of Northern Ireland. When I arrived at Linen Hall I had no idea that Heaney would be in attendance, along with the likes of Michael Longley and one of my distant relatives, poet Ciaron Carson (the Carsons are all from Ulster, the grouping of counties surrounding Belfast).
Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley at Linen Hall, Tim Carson in background
In his well-known poem, Digging, Heaney remembers first the digging of his father and then his grandfather, men so connected to and owned by the soil that their son and grandson could never imagine doing, being the same. Instead he will give his life to a digging of a different sort. And so he did:
vitalwholeness 
A rare reminiscence and an apt choice in homage. Well done.