Uachtarán na hÉireann, President Michael D. Higgins conferred the honour of Saoi of Aosdána on the poet Paul Muldoon at a special ceremony in Áras an Uachtaráin
At the ceremony, the President presented Paul Muldoon with the symbol of the office of Saoi, the gold Torc.
The celebrated poet wrote a new poem, ‘The Torc’ for the occasion, specially printed for all attending guests:
THE TORC
Paul Muldoon
Ever mindful of the coefficient of drag
and my compulsion to streamline
my operation, I ventured out along that muddy track
to Pergamon. Not only would I lean
into my role as newly-minted seer and sage,
ever mindful of the coefficient of drag
as well as the need for such
groundedness as might allow for a battle trick
that would leave the rank and file awestruck
and of which they would, as connoisseurs of the kill,
be ever mindful. Of the coefficient of drag
that brought down the Dying Gaul
I will say that he may have been overly quick to put
himself out there wearing only a thick torc
of gold rather than one he might to airy thinness beat,
ever mindful of the coefficient of drag.