“The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to.” - Carl Sandburg
Poetry Jam’s prompt this week is “Inside Looking Out” (or vice-versa!) and participants can treat this in a poem literally or figuratively. Here is my contribution. The reference to Sappho is from a surviving fragment of her poetry (Diehl 94 / Voigt 168b / Cox 48):
“Well, the moon has set, and the Pleiades.
It is the middle of the night.
And the hours pass by,
But I sleep alone…”
Sappho (≈630/612 BCE to ≈570 BCE)
Couvre-feu
Moonlight streams into my room
(Ill luck would have me
Forget to draw the curtain tonight).
Outside, the garden
(Cold, frosty,
Silent and forsaken).
Tree branches
(bare, harsh, rapacious)
Clutch at illumined, star-strewn sky.
A sole night bird calls.
The chill, dark air is calm,
The sky so far away,
I know I’ll never reach it.
(Time passes;
The firmament rotates,
Sleep eludes me).
Cold, bright, impassive,
All-knowing moon looks in;
And on my desk Sappho remarks
That by my side
The bed is empty.
Poetry Jam’s prompt this week is “Inside Looking Out” (or vice-versa!) and participants can treat this in a poem literally or figuratively. Here is my contribution. The reference to Sappho is from a surviving fragment of her poetry (Diehl 94 / Voigt 168b / Cox 48):
“Well, the moon has set, and the Pleiades.
It is the middle of the night.
And the hours pass by,
But I sleep alone…”
Sappho (≈630/612 BCE to ≈570 BCE)
Couvre-feu
Moonlight streams into my room
(Ill luck would have me
Forget to draw the curtain tonight).
Outside, the garden
(Cold, frosty,
Silent and forsaken).
Tree branches
(bare, harsh, rapacious)
Clutch at illumined, star-strewn sky.
A sole night bird calls.
The chill, dark air is calm,
The sky so far away,
I know I’ll never reach it.
(Time passes;
The firmament rotates,
Sleep eludes me).
Cold, bright, impassive,
All-knowing moon looks in;
And on my desk Sappho remarks
That by my side
The bed is empty.
I like this very much. I feel the sleepless night here. I like the way you used the parentheses. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeletesleep does need to impose a curfew on the moon...the sadness at the end touches deeply...a beautiful take on the prompt...
ReplyDeleteThe world of sleepless nights and new days, time does pass and sometimes it is so slow.
ReplyDeletethe outside and the in do not seem that far apart...
ReplyDeletethe lone night bird outside...the same inside...
oy, sleep has been alluding me as well...
Very cool, Nick. I like what you share as you look outside and the conversation with Sappho over the centuries.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this little peek into your bedroom ....
ReplyDeleteThis poem is very evocative, Nick. I deeply feel the presence of the all-knowing moon streaming through the window & can see those bare tree branches very clearly through your words....
ReplyDeleteThis is truly beautiful Nicholas. Widtful, contemplative. A fine entry,
ReplyDeleteThis is truly beautiful Nicholas. Widtful, contemplative. A fine entry,
ReplyDeleteNicholas,
ReplyDeleteAlmost a sense of voyeurism about the moonlight, as it peers into your night scene...Amazing how we can be disturbed and at times comforted, by the very same light...A mood moment perhaps!
Eileen
Very intimate and beautifully portrayed :)
ReplyDeleteThis is just beautiful. In your last (and outstanding) stanza, I understood. Wow. I didn't really see it coming. Top notch!
ReplyDeleteBeautifully penned! I love the way, you end it.
ReplyDeleteOh! That's painful.
ReplyDeleteOnly moonlight for company then...
Absolutely gorgeous poem, Nicholas! Very melancholy last verse...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poem. Expresses the absence of the beloved wonderfully.
ReplyDelete