MOONSET
In some ways a printed poem can
be considered as more than a conveyance of meaning and imagery. It
can also (like a written music score) be thought of as a pattern for
an acoustic “object”.
This object can be re-created by recitation or even by quietly
reading aloud to oneself.
In
this short poem two of the acoustic features (amongst others) are the
repetition (or assonance) of the vowel i (as in night) and the
stressed, unstressed, unstressed foot in the meter. This is called a
dactyl or dactylic foot. (Wild
is the wind
as it rides
with the night) . Although
most lines end on a stressed syllable,
because the meaning doesn't directly run over to the next line
(technically called enjambment) a slight pause before speaking the
next line could be felt as two "silent" unstressed
syllables.
MOONSET
Wild is the wind as it rides with the night;
Wild is the wind as it sets the sky sighing.
Bright's the thin moon as westward it's lying.
Bright is the white-shining chalice of light,
Bearing the circle of earth-light's far shine.
Silent's the sightless, swift passing of time.
Silent is time as it's endlessly flying.
Bright is the moonship on time's ebbing tide;
Bright as it glides beneath dark of earth side;
Smiling good-bye on horizon's black bar-
Leaving the night to wild wind, dark and star.
