Poet Michael Longley touched souls with just a few words, funeral hears Acclaimed Belfast poet Michael Longley managed to touch the souls of people with just a few words, his funeral has heard.
President Higgins led the tributes to Longley after his death was announced last month, saying he would “be recognised as one of the greatest poets that Ireland has ever produced, and it has long been my belief that his work is of the level that would be befitting of a Nobel Prize for Literature”.
President of Ireland Michael D Higgins was among mourners who joined Longley’s family at Saturday’s service in All Souls Church in Belfast.
Preachers and politicians can make speeches or sermons that use thousands of words to touch our imagination, but the poet can manage with few yet go straight to the heart, such as Michael.”.
Longley met Queen Camilla when she visited Hillsborough Castle in Co Down last year for a poetry event.
