night's nave upsoaring

in the arch of a reed, intimations of a whole bent under the weight of the elements.

so is the whole of a life.

even when bent, it retains its beauty.



nightpiece

gaunt in gloom,
the pale stars their torches,
enshrouded, wave.
ghostfires from heaven's far verges faint illume,
arches on soaring arches,
night's sindark nave.

seraphim,
the lost hosts awaken
to service till
in moonless gloom each lapses muted, dim,
raised when she has and shaken
her thurible.

and long and loud,
to night's nave upsoaring,
a starknell tolls
as the bleak incense surges, cloud on cloud,
voidward from the adoring
waste of souls.

james joyce from "pomes penyeach"

with ribbons streaming

bright cap and streamers,
he sings in the hollow:
come follow, come follow,
all you that love.
leave dreams to the dreamers
that will not after,
that song and laughter
do nothing move.
with ribbons streaming
he sings the bolder;
in troop at his shoulder
the wild bees hum.
and the time of dreaming
dreams is over -- -
as lover to lover,
sweetheart, i come.

james joyce from "chamber music".

in the half-light of a winter morning, light and shadow coexist side-by-side.

undulating across snowy hummocks, thin threads of sunlight rise and settle.

the shadow loves the light.

without the light's knifes-edge glare, the shadow is mere darkness.