National Poetry Month #28

 Occasionally, very rarely, there is a night so dark, so cold, so deep, that to stand in isolation and silence seems like a transformation - human into immortal; care-worn beast into dragon-breath.  It doesn't last, of course, but for those brief moments...!

As rare as triple rainbows, yet I've experienced several such nights - alone in powerful solitude, and again with Esteemed Spouse. Just as any photo of spectacular landscape will always fail to do it justice, so this poem doesn't convey the full power of the experience. But it comes close...

Once in the 40s by William Stafford

We were alone one night on a long

road in Montana. This was in winter, a big

night, far to the stars. We had hitched,

my wife and I, and left our ride at

a crossing to go on. Tired and cold - but

brave - we trudged along. This, we said,

was our life, watched over, allowed to go

where we wanted. We said we'd come back some time

when we got rich. We'd leave the others  and find

a night like this, whatever we had to give,

and no matter how far, to be so happy again.

.............................................

Thinking about all that reminded me of the extensive travels I've done, alone and with Esteemed Spouse, and the soul-deep impact some places have.

Anna Akhmatova is a poet you might like to research. Just a quick read through Google or Wikipedia entries will be enough to begin with. Her life was one of terrible hardship, and yet, this...

On the Road by Anna Akhmatova
(translated by Jane Kenyon)

Though this land is not my own
I will never forget it,
 or the waters of its ocean,
fresh and delicately icy.

Sand on the bottom is whiter than chalk,

and the air drunk, like wine.

Late sun lays bare

the rosy limbs of the pine trees.

And the sun goes down in waves of ether

in such a way that I can't tell

if the day is ending, or the world,

or if the secret of secrets is within me again.

..................................................

I've been at those sunsets. The end of the day or the world? And that secret of secrets... the first truth. Wow. Just wow.