Timeless Beauty

this comes to mind

Sure on this shining night

Of star-made shadows round

Kindness must watch for me

This side the ground

The late year lies down the north,
All is healed, all is health
High summer holds the earth,
Hearts all whole
Sure on this shining night
I weep for wonder
Wandr’ing far alone
Of shadows on the stars.

James Agee (1909-1955) - “Description of Elysium”, from Permit Me Voyage, stanzas 6-8, 1934.

I learned this as music, and now cannot speak the words without the choral cadences.

...for a dear friend, G

Through the Music

It started with the critical intellect and
progressed through visuals, but as our
silences became as comfortable as being
with myself again, the quiet gave way
to sounds: a tonality tolerated because
you sat through it too; and years of listening
to early, Baroque, Romantic, and modern.
It was heard through halted breathing
or tears silently flowing or a lilting sashay.

Recordings are played now and my mind
tries to conjure your amplification.
No critiques, no visuals, no silence.

Sleepless

Again.