Manafonistas

on life, music etc beyond mainstream

2015 15 Jan

The Sunlight on the Garden (by Louis Macneice)

von: Manafonistas Filed under: Blog | TB | 4 Comments

The sunlight on the garden
Hardens and grows cold,
We cannot cage the minute
Within its nets of gold;
When all is told
We cannot beg for pardon.

Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards its end;
The earth compels, upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.

The sky was good for flying
Defying the church bells
And every evil iron
Siren and what it tells:
The earth compels,
We are dying, Egypt, dying

And not expecting pardon,
Hardened in heart anew,
But glad to have sat under
Thunder and rain with you,
And grateful too
For sunlight on the garden.

This entry was posted on Donnerstag, 15. Januar 2015 and is filed under "Blog". You can follow any responses to this entry with RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Comments

  1. Michael Engelbrecht:

    „Während des Krieges und danach schrieb und veröffentlichte MacNeice weiter, ohne zunächst die dichterische Qualität seiner Werke der Vorkriegszeit erreichen zu können.

    Erst gegen Ende der 50er entwickelte er einen neuen Stil: knapper, konzentrierter, manchmal fast surrealistisch, durch Pessismus, Ironie und Humor geprägt. In den späten Werken wie Visitations (1957) und The Burning Perch (1963) gelang es ihm, das Ernsthafte und das Düstere leicht und elegant zu beschreiben.

    MacNeice starb 1963 an einer Lungenentzündung, nachdem er in eine Höhle in Yorkshire hinabgestiegen war, um für sein Hörspiel Persons from Porlock Geräuscheffekte aufzunehmen. Er ist in Carrowdore, County Down, begraben.“

    – Wikipedia

  2. Ian M:

    Absolutely, totally, completely brilliant.

    Not dissimilar in theme to Philip Larkin’s ‚Aubade‘ or Dylan Thomas’s ‚Do not go gentle into that good night‘ but I like this one more as it has a subtle edge of mysticism to it. For some reason (maybe the fleeting rhythm?) this poem reminds me of W.B. yeats

  3. Michael Engelbrecht:

    I just stumbled over this poem – and simply had, at first, only one word for it: wow! And, by coincidence, it made sense linking it (with a bit of distance) to the photo of the garden, a deserted garden. I love things having a mystery with loose ends and deep emotional impact.

  4. Uwe Meilchen:

    You named it: wow ! – I must say that the Outlook this Poem gives on life is somewhat bleak…, but at the same time perhaps courtesy of the small glimpse of mystic there’s some hope as (for me when I read this poem) well.


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