Friday, January 8, 2010

with ribbons streaming



bright cap and streamers,
he sings in the hollow:
come follow, come follow,
all you that love.
leave dreams to the dreamers
that will not after,
that song and laughter
do nothing move.
with ribbons streaming
he sings the bolder;
in troop at his shoulder
the wild bees hum.
and the time of dreaming
dreams is over -- -
as lover to lover,
sweetheart, i come.

james joyce from "chamber music".


in the half-light of a winter morning,
light and shadow coexist side-by-side.

inside and out.

undulating across snowy hummocks,
thin threads of sunlight rise and settle.

the shadow loves the light.

because
without the light's knifes-edge glare,
the shadow
is merely darkness

~

"light loves shadow.
because without shadow's soft depth
light
is merely blinding glare."

27 comments:

Jenny Stevning said...

OH MY!!!! WOW!!!!!! The last two sentences leave me in complete awe. Amazing words! I don't know what to say...oh, wait...that's right...when I am speechless I say ***********************!
Thank you!

Dan Gurney said...

Your poem ending this post is just lovely, especially....

"the shadow loves the light.
because
without the light's knifes-edge glare,
the shadow
is merely darkness."

I want to add:

"light loves shadow.
because without shadow's soft depth
light
is merely blinding glare."

Rachel Fenton said...

That photograph is almost identical to one I saw of sand dunes once, after which I made little copper, brass and aluminium sculptures, each about the size of a finger: ridged and rippled to catch and dodge the light by equal measures. I'd forgotten all about them until I saw this. Thanks.

And you chose a very fluid piece of Joyce - all Joyce considered....(my middle name's Joyce btw)...

The Weaver of Grass said...

Never read that James Joyce before, Steven, love it. Thanks for the posting of it

steven said...

hello jenny - i haven't seen the stars for a while!!! thankyou. have a peaceful day. steven

steven said...

hello dan and thankyou very much. i have added your additional thoughts at the end of the post!!! have a lovely day. steven

steven said...

hey rachel - these are shadows cast by the southern fence line of our property. there's much that sand and snow have in common. i would dearly love to see the scultputres you made - perhaps a post sometime on your blog?!
"joyce" perhaps your parents had hopes for you!!!!! i'd say you've likely exceeded them! steven

steven said...

hello weaver - i'm very glad that you enjoyed it. have a lovely day in the dale. steven

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Your exquisite image and words apply equally to the light and shadow within.

This post sets such a nice tone with which to start my day. Thank you.

Tess Kincaid said...

Well, I just ordered a boat load of James Joyce from my library branch...both audio and books...so I am going to be saturated with some lovely Irish writing.

Jenny Stevning said...

Ahhh...I love your words...I love Dan's amendment. You're both genius!

Anonymous said...

I took these to be rivers of sand blowing across the plains.

Nice. "...undulating across snowy hammocks,"

I have another story about letters coming up.

Golden West said...

My first thought was the same as Rachel - ripples of sand at low tide along the shoreline. Lovely!

ellen abbott said...

You continue to wow me. How was that photo achieved?

Rondell said...

That's beautiful! Did you find that in one them Chinese fortune cookies?

Linda Sue said...

Everything about this post leaves me in awe... So fabulous, lovely,beautiful, wonderful,cool- the best breakfast I have ever had!! Delicous!Copy, print and tacked on the reminder board of "life is swell!" I want to felt the photo of shadow- it would make such a gorgeous cushion.

steven said...

bonnie long ago i had a girlfriend who introduced me to the idea of "the shadow". it changed the way i knew myself and others. more recently, reya over at the gold puppy introduced me to the idea that physical shadows have value also. between the two i like to think that the dance of light and shadow has something of a message in it. i'm glad this was a part of your good beginning day. steven

steven said...

yes willow - i think i mentioned over at the manor that portrait of the artist and dubliners were the long-standing favourites over here at golden fish world headquarters!!! have a lovely evening at the manor. steven

steven said...

hi jenny- it's a neat melding of words that i feel really fortunate to have been a part of. it was unexpected but coloured my day in a very good way. have a peaceful evening. steven

steven said...

hi abe - it's the black and white that renders the image into that state of "is it sand or snow". i see this almost every day outside between about four and five o'clock in the afternoon. thanks for dropping by! steven

steven said...

hi golden west - i'd like to be bear some sand ripples right now. i love the feeling of wet sand between my toes. i had slush between my toes a couple of days ago when the seal on my boot blew out while i was walking home but that was a very different experience!!! have a lovely evening. steven

steven said...

hi ellen - when the sun gets low enough on the horizon it casts light through the southern fence line of our property which casts across the snow in these lines. of course the snow is hummocky and lumpy so it makes the lines irregular. every day (if it's a clear sky) between four and five. lucky me. steven

steven said...

hi rondeel - i was just over to your blog and you're one happenin' woman! nope not one bit of tis came from a chinese fortune cookie although i wish i could write chinese fortune cookies and give people something really juicy or shocking or even awe inspiring as opposed to the sorry little statements they usually get. see you again! steven

steven said...

linda sue - i love the way you think and write!!! the snow image would be amazing on a cushion . . . it carries the essence of soft and irregular side-by-side when so often they are disjunctive and don't meet up. james joyce, steven and dan all collaborating to unpack the moment!!! hurray for us!!! steven

hope said...

I've always loved textures and as odd as it may sound, I've always consider "shadows" one of those textures.

Here's wishing you a wonderful weekend!

steven said...

hello hope - i love that way of thinking! i started to really like shadows as a beautiful element in this house a couple of years ago when i noticed how the light played around the walls at different times of day, especially in the winter. have a lovely evening. steven

Crafty Green Poet said...

It was a new piece of Joyce for me too.... wonderful play of light and shadow in the photo...