The Speed Of Dark // Eclipse

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By Caldwell

Mon, 28 Oct 2024
  • 649 reads
9 comments
 

No clock can measure, no hand can stay,
The speed of darkness eats the day.
Like Magritte’s sky of feathered night,
It swallows sun, eclipses light.

Stairways twist in Escher's maze,
Where shadows bend and time decays;
The dark descends in downward flight,
And folds the world in quiet blight.

No sacred hour, no god’s embrace,
Can guard us in this border’s space.
The winds unhinge their restless cries,
And stars dissolve in shifting skies.

What draws this blackness ever near?
A force that neither bends nor veers.
It rushes fast as light retreats,
Unwinding worlds with silent feats.

In Wayeb’s grip, the darkness grows,
And where it ends, no mortal knows.
It creeps along like night’s disguise -
A swift deceit before our eyes.

Yet there beneath the waning moon,
We hold our breath and wait for noon.
For time will turn, and light restore
The world to what it was before.

===

"A Continent Is Bridged", an illustration by Franklin Booth from Wikimedia's Creative Commons.

Certificate PG
Poem
Poetry
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Just a ray of light defeats darkness immediately! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Ewan on

 Unforced rhyme, perfect scansion, vivid imagery and carefully chosen words: this is how rhymed poetry is done. That's why it's our Pick of the Day today.
please share on whatever Social Media you use, if you can.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I wish I could rhyme like this! Have you been reading Shelley and Blake? I loved :
"What draws this blackness ever near?
A force that neither bends nor veers.
It rushes fast as light retreats,
Unwinding worlds with silent feats"

 

Submitted by Caldwell on

Thank you for your high praise.

I was actually drawing on Andrew Marvell's style. Crossed with a question from Steven Wright "Ok, so what's the speed of dark?". He has some good leftfield oneliners that leave you thinking such as "Why isn’t the word “phonetically” spelled with an “f”?"

I have also been re-reading David Mitchell's Slade House which I think bears some relation to what I came up with.

 

Submitted by Penny4athought on

I agree with Ewan, there are no forced words, each flows beautifully with intent. The poetry is musical, tempo held throughout.smiley  

Penny4athought

Submitted by D G Moody on

Goodness! But this is good; and as has been said a technical tour de force, but also, of great lyrical beauty; I can only offer the ultimate compliment - I wish I'd composed this!

Dougie Moody

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Real poetry! beautiful! faster than the speed of night!, and total eclipse of the heart!

Those were the days! All the best! Tom

 

Submitted by onemorething on

This is our Poem of the Week! Congratulations! 

 

Submitted by celticman on

great beat to the darkness (and light).