Years And Seasons Apart

 

tamed by the tumbling years,

an old voice retelling.

   - John Haines, "Rain Country"

 

 

 

 

"This craggy hill is a hard place in winter."

So I began a poem once, and it was true

But I was never content to begin or end with

The merely obvious.  "Rocks sharpened wind

Like a whetstone" set it teetering, and then

Something said about "sepulchral silence,

Like being alone in an old stone church"

And suddenly the whole thing collapsed.

 

How different now in spring when moonlight

Is sifting slowly through the trees, rounding

All the edges into a luminous coalescence,

The air warm and clear, a deepening quiet.

Not a stone church but a mountain temple;

And now the chanted meditations of crickets,

The inscrutable Buddha-owl, soft and serene.





Poetry by countryfog
Read 681 times
Written on 2015-05-08 at 23:01

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Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
This may have been the first time I've laughed while reading one of your poems, Fog. There's almost a Taoist lesson to be learned here: trying too hard leads to failure and frustration. A more relaxed approach brings success and satisfaction.
2015-05-11


shells
Your title says it all, how our moods are affected by both age and the seasons. Love your final line, it seems comforting and quietly rounds off the piece.
2015-05-10


Jamsbo Rockda The PoetBay support member heart!
What a difference a season makes. Very nice.
2015-05-10



A beautiful poem.
Maturity bringing clarity and an ease of telling which is complemented by the differences in the seasons and the dissatisfaction disappears allowing for the poem to be written:)
Lovely:)
2015-05-09


josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
We both value the sacred mysticism of seasons. Each has it's unique themes both dark and light that are brought to the fore by our emotions of the moment. In the way that only you can, those dark and light themes of two opposing seasons have been juxtaposed in two brilliant stanzas. Well done my friend, well done.
2015-05-08



It's like day and night isn't it? When the light of the day disappears the fears of the night. Beautiful poem!
2015-05-08