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Monday 2 July 2012

darker than dawn's ray

The night is my companion poem writer.
Words seem to change their meanings after dark,
and wear the most fantastic night attire.
They wake me with a whispered shh or shat
and from them spin the beauteous of lines
which if I write down in my booklet then and there
bear no relationship to what they'll mean next day.
So night time has a language all its own,
that much is clear, the time has come
for me to differentiate the ones we write -
the night and I - for darkness, I alone for day.
It seems the night may harbour jealousy
when I make bold to offer up to day
what we have scribed together in the dark
and what is darker altogether than dawn's ray.

20 comments:

Elisabeth said...

I know this feeling, Dave, the way daylight can interfere with your nightly labour and love, bitter cruel enemy that she is.

Rachel Cotterill said...

Beautiful :-)

Janine Bollée said...

This can't be bettered.
simply cannot be bettered.

And it is true as well. fully formed phrases pop up at first consciousness in the morning, or even after an afternoon nap.

Dave, may I politely ask why on earth [or in heaven for that matter] do you need eight thousand [8000, I counted them] line breaks below your posts???
Just asking :-)
It takes a good fifteen minutes to travel down there. Well, maybe I exaggerate just a little. 12 minutes.

aprille said...

Maybe you could organize some refreshment on the way? And a Ladies & Gents?

Brian Miller said...

ha, aprille....dave i love those last 4 lines...they say so much...i tend to write all day but at night...def we share the muse a bit...smiles...

Daydreamertoo said...

I don't see any line breaks at all.
Loved this. I used to keep a pen and notepad by the bed to scribble my thoughts if I woke up remembering them and the next day could hardly read the scribble LOL
I agree though, our thoughts at night are darker and different to the ones in daylight.

Mary said...

Yes, poems written in daytime for me are very often different than poems written at night. Evening poems are more reflective, like the moon. Daytime poems are brighter like the sun!

CailinMarie said...

just letting you know I stopped by. I am not one with strength in words - but I greatly enjoy yours.

Hannah Stephenson said...

Yes, the adjective to describe writing at night seems to be "furtive."

I know just what you mean.

Rachna Chhabria said...

Your poetry never stops fascinating me.

rch said...

Yes I can totally relate to this, sometimes I purposely lie in bed at night and listen to the darkness to see what secrets it may reveal - fantastic as usual.

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

True, true. Night time has really a language of its own.

And well, I can actually also quote from a very simple song from my boyhood ( Ray Charles) "Night time is the right time..."

nyssa said...

so true. I loved this. I spill more secrets at night in my writing than I ever would in the daytime.

ds said...

Oh, so true (she echoed). I used to feel that at night the words came more easily, because in the dark they were my own. Beautifully expressed, sir. Thank you.

Dave King said...

All

Thank you all so much. I'm afraid i don't have time to reply to you all individually, as I would like, But I am so appreciative of all your comments. It seems almost universal, this night-write experience. I thought it might be, but interesting to have some confirmation.

Thank you all.

I don't know where the line breaks are coming from. I don't have them. And I'm not putting in the highlights either!

Madeleine Begun Kane said...

I love this, and I can really relate to it.

Anonymous said...

The light of day can be very harsh indeed! Very clever and beautifully written (by any light.) k.

Ygraine said...

I so relate to this!
The night is a great teacher of mine. Such inspiration comes to me with practically no effort on my part.
But when I try to write it down in the morning...well, I can only say that night jealously guards it's gifts, refusing point blank to share them with day!!

A Cuban In London said...

As I read this poem my head was bobbing up and down. Yes, yes and a thousand times yes! Nightime is special for writing. Especially straight after you've woken up in the early hours of the morning.

Greetings from London.

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