Anam Cara

VESPERS

As light departs to let the earth be one with night

Silence deepens in the mind and thoughts grow slow;

The basket of twilight brims over with colours

Gathered from within the secret meadows of the day

And offered like blessings to the gathering Tenebrae.

After the day’s frenzy may the heart grow still,

Gracious in thought for all the day brought,

Surprises that dawn could never have dreamed,

The blue silence that came to still the mind,

The quiver of mystery at the edge of a glimpse,

The golden echoes of worlds behind voices.

Tense faces unable to hide what gripped the heart,

The abrupt cut of a glance or a phrase that hurt,

The flame of longing that distance darkened,

Bouquets of memory that gathered on the heart’s altar,

The thorns of absence in the rose of dream.

And the whole while the unknown underworld

Of the mind turning slowly in its secret orbit.

May the blessing of sleep bring refreshment and release

And the Angel of the moon call the rivers of dream

To soften the hardened earth of the outside life,

Disentangle from the trapped nets the hurt and sorrow

And awaken the young soul for the new tomorrow.