Thursday, January 20, 2022

Prayer Of An Incurable Nostalgic Greek Optimist

“It often seems to me that it is better to be asleep than to find yourself without companions 
And insist so. And what can you do in this state of suspense, what say? I do not know. 
And what is the use of poets in a mean spirited time?” 
 
--Friedrich Hoelderlin, (quoted by George Seferis at the beginning of Log Book 1, Roderick Beaton translation.) 
 
After yet another oppressive 
Day, what with Covid-19 
 
And a society and government— 
Dare I say world?— 
 
In apparent disarray, to wake up 
In the dead of night, say 
 
Four-thirty, and remain transfixed 
There in the darkness unable 
 
To go back to sleep, anxious 
To witness one more glorious 
 
Morning unfolding slowly 
Its dawning 
 
Sheets of blinding light, 
Wide-eyed awake forever 
 
And ever before you 
To your dying day.

 

4 comments:

  1. I trust you know how religiously I follow your poems, amigo. So many, and all so good that I try to hold back—He won't get another compliment from me! How easy does he think I am? Etc.—so I'm letting this stand for all that praise held back. I love this poem! We all long for such mornings. I just finished reading Report to Greco, which I've carried from house to house since I was a callow undergrad, and there are passages in it that approach the beauty of this dawning. But K. is, by his own admission, an imperfect writer, so the purity of something like this wasn't in his repertoire. In any case, thank you for this vision of ... well, if not hope, exactly, of potential. How badly we need it these days!

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    1. What a generous, heartfelt response, old friend and something that caught me off-guard,as I was somewhat uneasy about this particular poem--it seemed a bit too thick emotionally but your response and John's below makes my effort worthwhile after all and I thank the both of you for being such close readers of my work. It makes being a poet in the boondocks of the southern Peloponnese a less lonely calling.

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  2. Moving, beautifully crafted, heartfelt poem! Another one of the great Zambaras poems about light (and, of course, as they all are, about much else too).

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    1. John, what I wrote above to Joe is also meant for you--thanks, brother!

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