THIS MOMENT

A poem by Kathleen Raine set to music. Chinmaya Dunster guitar and voice.

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The Moment (extract) by Kathleen Raine

“Never, never again this moment, never

These slow ripples across smooth water,

Never again these clouds white and grey

In sky sharp crystalline blue as the tern’s cry

Still in light air salt from the ocean

Sweet from flowers.

————

The sun that rises upon one earth

Sets on another, swiftly the flowers

Are waxing and waning, the tall yellow iris

Unfold its corolla as primroses wither,

Scrolls of fern unroll and midges

Dance for an hour in the evening air,

The brown moth from its pupa emerges

And the lark’s bones fall apart in the grass.

———

The sun that rose from the sea this morning

Will never return, for the broadcast light

That brightens the leaves and glances on water

Will travel tonight on its long journey

Out of the universe,

Never this sun, this world, and never again this watcher.