This week’s poem is a ‘song’ by the English poet Elizabeth Jennings (1926–2001). During a life that was modest – even eccentric – in style, her poetic output was prolific, and marked by great sensitivity to a wide range of human emotions together with a spiritual sensibility.

Song of Time

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Deliver time and let it go
Under wild clouds and passive moon.
Once it was fast, now it is slow.
I lose my hours beneath the sun,
Brisk minutes ebb and flow.

Time is elemental, all
We make in speech and action, yet
Time itself can have a fall
When heart and mind have no regret
And love is how you feel.

Oh let us dance with time and turn
It to a friend, a willing one.
In time we grow, through time we learn
The visitations of the sun
And ardour of the moon.

Time is not clocks but moves within
The discourse of the learned heart,
It is the way our lives begin.
O leaving time behind’s an art
Ahead and now and then.

Image: April 2020. Schola Diffusa (‘dispersed choir’) sing ‘Down in the River to Pray’. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this international group – and many others – have met on-line to sing together.  

Poems for These Times

‘Poems for These Times’ is a special collection of poetry offered in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is intended as a way of sustaining us, and to give us something on which to meditate together during these difficult and challenging times.

There will be just one poem each week, so that we can really stay with what is offered. We can read it – perhaps aloud – to ourselves or to any companions in our isolation, and sense the vibrations through our whole being. For poetry has the power to affect us on every level – body, mind, heart and soul. It has a magic, which, in the words of poet Adrienne Rich:

“… goes back very far: the rune; the chant; the incantation; the spell; the kenning; sacred words; the naming of the child; the plant, the insect, the ocean, the configuration of stars, the snow, the sensation in the body… The physical reality of the human voice.”

Of course, not every poem will appeal to everyone – that is inevitable. But there is also the possibility that staying with something that does not immediately appeal can be stimulating and helpful. Experience suggests that sustained attention and contemplation of a poem’s music, words and thoughts can be deeply rewarding.

It would be lovely to share any responses and thoughts you may have through our comments section below.

Barbara Vellacott