![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rejectomorphAll morning we enjoyed one of those silvery gray skies that winter brings, and then the sun emerged for afternoon. Just as the blossoms on my red azalea bush are fading, the white azalea next to it has produced a single flower, and it was quite vivid in the bright sunlight. It stood out even as dusk fell, and I expect it will be noticeable even by moonlight.
The moon is rising now, its light filtered by pine trees. These particular trees provide me with my favorite moonrise of the year, but I remember it being much clearer when my eyesight was better. The scene grows more impressionistic each year. Now even the shadows of the pine branches cast on the back wall of my house are less distinct than I remember them. Thus far my failing sight has not diminished the pleasure of seeing them, though. In a way the world grows more interesting as it gets blurrier.
I sometimes feel as though I'm slowly receding into a painting by Renoir. Maybe someday I'll merge with one of those people he painted, and I'll see the world I've left as though in a frame. Look for me if you ever visit the Louvre.
Sunday Verse
by Conrad Aiken
Now the great wheel of darkness and low clouds
Whirs and whirls in the heavens with dipping rim;
Against the ice-white wall of light in the west
Skeleton trees bow down in a stream of air.
Leaves, black leaves and smoke, are blown on the wind;
Mount upward past my window; swoop again;
In a sharp silence, loudly, loudly falls
The first cold drop, striking a shriveled leaf . . .
Doom and dusk for the earth! Upward I reach
To draw chill curtains and shut out the dark,
Pausing an instant, with uplifted hand,
To watch, between black ruined portals of cloud,
One star,—the tottering portals fall and crush it.
Here are a thousand books! here is the wisdom
Alembicked out of dust, or out of nothing;
Choose now the weightiest word, most golden page,
Most somberly musicked line; hold up these lanterns,—
These paltry lanterns, wisdoms, philosophies,—
Above your eyes, against this wall of darkness;
And you'll see—what? One hanging strand of cobweb,
A window-sill a half-inch deep in dust . . .
Speak out, old wise-men! Now, if ever, we need you.
Cry loudly, lift shrill voices like magicians
Against this baleful dusk, this wail of rain . . .
But you are nothing! Your pages turn to water
Under my fingers: cold, cold and gleaming,
Arrowy in the darkness, rippling, dripping—
All things are rain . . . Myself, this lighted room,
What are we but a murmurous pool of rain? . . .
The slow arpeggios of it, liquid, sibilant,
Thrill and thrill in the dark. World-deep I lie
Under a sky of rain. Thus lies the sea-shell
Under the rustling twilight of the sea;
No gods remember it, no understanding
Cleaves the long darkness with a sword of light.
The moon is rising now, its light filtered by pine trees. These particular trees provide me with my favorite moonrise of the year, but I remember it being much clearer when my eyesight was better. The scene grows more impressionistic each year. Now even the shadows of the pine branches cast on the back wall of my house are less distinct than I remember them. Thus far my failing sight has not diminished the pleasure of seeing them, though. In a way the world grows more interesting as it gets blurrier.
I sometimes feel as though I'm slowly receding into a painting by Renoir. Maybe someday I'll merge with one of those people he painted, and I'll see the world I've left as though in a frame. Look for me if you ever visit the Louvre.
Sunday Verse
Twilights, V
by Conrad Aiken
Now the great wheel of darkness and low clouds
Whirs and whirls in the heavens with dipping rim;
Against the ice-white wall of light in the west
Skeleton trees bow down in a stream of air.
Leaves, black leaves and smoke, are blown on the wind;
Mount upward past my window; swoop again;
In a sharp silence, loudly, loudly falls
The first cold drop, striking a shriveled leaf . . .
Doom and dusk for the earth! Upward I reach
To draw chill curtains and shut out the dark,
Pausing an instant, with uplifted hand,
To watch, between black ruined portals of cloud,
One star,—the tottering portals fall and crush it.
Here are a thousand books! here is the wisdom
Alembicked out of dust, or out of nothing;
Choose now the weightiest word, most golden page,
Most somberly musicked line; hold up these lanterns,—
These paltry lanterns, wisdoms, philosophies,—
Above your eyes, against this wall of darkness;
And you'll see—what? One hanging strand of cobweb,
A window-sill a half-inch deep in dust . . .
Speak out, old wise-men! Now, if ever, we need you.
Cry loudly, lift shrill voices like magicians
Against this baleful dusk, this wail of rain . . .
But you are nothing! Your pages turn to water
Under my fingers: cold, cold and gleaming,
Arrowy in the darkness, rippling, dripping—
All things are rain . . . Myself, this lighted room,
What are we but a murmurous pool of rain? . . .
The slow arpeggios of it, liquid, sibilant,
Thrill and thrill in the dark. World-deep I lie
Under a sky of rain. Thus lies the sea-shell
Under the rustling twilight of the sea;
No gods remember it, no understanding
Cleaves the long darkness with a sword of light.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-01-05 03:30 am (UTC)It gets harder and harder for me to find a good focus for reading. Some printed books now have print too tiny for comfort, and some too pale. *shakes cane at publishers*
Great poem! I recognize his name but apparently haven't read much by him, which I will remedy after I look into this: "here is the wisdom/ Alembicked out of dust." 'Alembic' is a verb? Off to find out...
no subject
Date: 2015-01-06 07:20 am (UTC)Aiken was one of the poets who came of age around the time of WWI, publishing his first book in 1914. He was also the person chiefly responsible for establishing Emily Dickinson's reputation as a major poet. That alone would have been sufficient to earn him the poetic license to verb a considerable number of nouns.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-06 10:52 am (UTC)