Twelfth Night

No night could be darker than this night, no cold so cold,
as the blood snaps like a wire
and the heart’s sap stills,
and the year seems defeated.
O never again, it seems, can green things run, or sky birds fly,
or the grass exhale its humming breath powdered with pimpernels,
from this dark lung of winter.
Yet here are lessons from the final mile of pilgrim kings;
the mile still left when all have reached their tether’s end: that mile
where the Child lies hid.
For see, beneath the hand, the earth already warms and glows;
for men with shepherd’s eyes there are signs in the dark, the turning stars,
the lamb’s returning time.
Out of this utter death he’s born again,
his birth our Saviour;
from terror’s equinox, he climbs and grows, drawing his finger’s light
across our blood— the sun of heaven and the son of God.

Samuel Barber set the poem to music; here is a  version
made this year by the Australian Chamber Choir:

Banner Image: Bystrzyca Klodzka, Poland, 26 August 2020. Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky. On 21st December, at the winter solstice, these two planets will come into a Great Conjunction and appear as one bright light on the horizon. Although they come close to each other every twenty years, the last actual conjunction was in 1623, nearly 400 years ago. Photograph:Castigatio/ iStock

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 is just one poem each time, 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.”

To read all the poems in the series, click here

Barbara Vellacott