Answer

Heaney’s father is a nuisance to him, ‘stumbling behind me’, a reminder that we all grow old, sadly. The final words ‘and will not go away’ seem harsh, as if Heaney finds his father an irritant, yet his father put up with him when he was a young boy, getting in the way. It almost seems selfish, but possibly shows how people do find caring for their elderly relatives a difficult thing to do.