Friday, November 29, 2013

Monday Morning Poetry*


Two from "The Kingdom of Music"






Dear Gustave, Dear Adrian

"In the end naivete lies at the bottom of being, all being, even the most conscious and complicated."  -Thomas Mann,  Doctor Faustus

Spun in the seams of light
Parting the clouds of sight,
We see the vision of man
Decayed by his own destiny.

Just as we want to look
Past our own self to the book
We create, history stands astride
Our vision of all humanity.

Marking time in the closeness
Of all this academic business,
You live the passion of words,
I, the music of eternity.

Each of us frames our genius
In the light of those around us,
Spinning our artful inspirations
Outward with eternal creativity.

Grasping the slender threads
Of light that become mere beads,
We part from our original vision
As we reach for infinity.

Crushed by the weight of eons
We join the good Europeans,
Falling evermore downward while
Creating our world's modernity.

James Henderson, 1991 




Champagne

A crowded room with friends, warmly
Filled with chatting, buzzing. While sharing
Current memories of friendly
Yesterdays.

Within the buzz sensations of new
offerings, perchance of future memories.
Each a  portent  or promise of friendlier
Tomorrows. 


James Henderson, January, 2007

* Published on a Friday that seems like Monday.

2 comments:

Brian Joseph said...

That is some great verse James.

I really like the all encompassing sweep of Dear Gustave, Dear Adrian. It seems to lend itself to spending some time in pondering it.

James said...

Brian, Thanks for your kind words. The "Dear Gustave, Dear Adrian" poem is a sort of reverie on some of the ideas in Mann's two novels, Doctor Faustus and Death in Venice.