Poetry Sunday: To the Light of September
It's a long, long way from May to December, but the days get shorter as we reach September, as the lyricist Maxwell Anderson observed in "September Song."
The days get shorter as the sun starts its trek south, and the quality of the light changes. It becomes softer somehow. Even though our days are still hot, the sun seems a bit more benevolent now, especially in early morning and late afternoon.
W.S. Merwin attempted to describe that quality of the light that comes with this time of year in his poem.
To the Light of September
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When you are already here
you appear to be only
a name that tells of you
whether you are present or not
and for now it seems as though
you are still summer
still the high familiar
endless summer
yet with a glint
of bronze in the chill mornings
and the late yellow petals
of the mullein fluttering
on the stalks that lean
over their broken
shadows across the cracked ground
but they all know
that you have come
the seed heads of the sage
the whispering birds
with nowhere to hide you
to keep you for later
you
who fly with them
you who are neither
before nor after
you who arrive
with blue plums
that have fallen through the night
perfect in the dew
Wonderful poem. I also once wrote a song about the changing slant of the light, using it as a metaphor for the change in a friendship that was on the rocks.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting idea. It's the time of year when changes are all around us, but sometimes they are so subtle that we don't see them. Kind of like some friendships, I guess.
DeleteI like it!
ReplyDeleteMe, too!
DeleteWell done. Thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
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