Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog No 54 Late in the Night

LATE IN THE NIGHT

One of the great aspects of living in the country is that you get impressions from the natural world that are more or less lost or obscured in the city. On a clear night, for instance, it feels like you can gaze right into our galaxy- the cloudy light streams of the milky way. This poem was inspired by another sight - patterns of cloud over a summer night sky lit by the moon. The metre is composed of variants on the Choriamb ( STRESSED, unstressed, unstressed, STRESSED). For example - LATE in the NIGHT. 


 

           LATE IN THE NIGHT

Late in the night

     I woke, feeling restless.

Outside the half moon

      gleamed low in the west,

washing its white light

       over the scattered

clouds which were patterned

      like the vast ceiling

on a baroque

      dome dimly spreading

over pale stars.

Trees were dark shapes,

      silent and cool.

Hills were black waves,

      still in their slow

ages-old flow.

And the small frogs

      chirped in a chorus,

recalling brief rain.

Earth breathed a dewy

     breath as it rested

in beauty and night,

       moon-bathed, a yin

to summer-fierce light.

And faintly a soft breeze

      whispered in passing-

this is the quiet

        blessing on life.

Moments of loneliness,

       in silence and loveliness,

with beauty like music

      that flows through the skin,

are gifts from All-Spirit

     to the spirit within.