The Blue Estuaries
David Ashley White (b. 1944)
I Saw Eternity
O beautiful forever! (Forever!)
O grandiose everlasting!
Now, now, now,
I break you into pieces,
I feed you to the ground.
O brilliant, O languishing
Cycle of weeping light!
The mice and birds will eat you,
And you will spoil their stomachs
As you have spoiled my mind.
Here, mice, rats
Porcupines and toads,
Moles, shrews, squirrels,
Weasels, turtles, and lizards, —
Here’s bright Everlasting!
Here's a crumb of Forever!
Here's a crumb of Forever!
— Louise Bogan (1897-1970)
To Be Sung on the Water
Beautiful, my delight,
Pass, as we pass the wave
Pass, as the mottled night
Leaves what it cannot save,
Scattering dark and bright
Beautiful, pass and be,
Less than the guiltless shade
To which our vows were said;
Less than the sound of the oar
To which our vows were made, —
Less than the sound of its blade
Dipping the stream once more.
— Louise Bogan
“I Saw Eternity” and “To Be Sung on the Water” were recorded by the Houston Chamber Choir in the album “Soft Blink of Amber Light” released in 2015 by MSR Classics.
