blue razor shadows tangle
bare bones of trees
against soft shoulders of hills
white daggers
angled from behind
dark translucence buried in new snow
Eyes exposed to silver bright,
make seamless memory
From sigh of wind, smell of cold
And then, a motion, somewhere, movement–
Like the flicker of a silent movie
And again. Not movement sudden
Faintly at the edge of vision
subtle, massive and unnamed.
With lunacy and light
The valley fills, empties as
dark waves surge past, and another–
An armada–cloudships propelled by moonbeams.
White light and blue, they came
In liquid shadows shades of gray
the size of meadows surging
from behind us — under our feet
Poured into creeks and quickly away
Rising without effort under snow under oaks
To the top of the ridge and gone.
The world flashed from life to death
From shadow of cloud to light of the Unfamiliar
And I am terrified and I am made whole–
a frail vapor so close to heaven
So In love with this pulsing world.
_______________________________
Very rare in my experience, a night with snow on the ground, a half moon or more, and scattered clouds blowing shadows across the nightscape of our pasture. I wrote this description above in 2003 and saw the exact same thing, had the same wonderful terror all over again, last night.
Lovely poem, Fred. I had not started reading you in 2003, so I missed it the first time. The photo is gorgeous, too. Did you have to use a tripod and long exposure?
Beautiful…image and imagery!
Thank you for noticing the rare poem–wish I took time to do more of that, or felt more often moved to do so. This one will be in the upcoming book, maybe even the picture (small, b&w, but hopefully evocative of the feel of the moment and the words that describe them.)
Very nice, poem and pic, I had not read it before. These last few nights of moonlight and snow very magical…
I usually don’t “understand” poetry, but I understand this one – very nice, Fred. Have you taken more pictures of this combination of moon/snow/shadow?
I liked the phrase “cloudships propelled by moonbeams…”
I have cross-country skied by moonlight in Colorado and felt that same wonderful terror – this quite brought it all back.
Thanks also for the link to the stove website – I’m liking what I see there.
Nice photo effect, too – is that a Photoshop filter, and if so, which one?