Night Songs

Night Songs

by Thomas Kinsella

1

Now, as I sink in sleep,
My heart is cut down,
Nothing—poetry nor love—
Achieving.

*

Turns again in my room,
The crippled leopard.
Paw-pad, configured
Yellow light of his eyes,
Pass, repass, repass.
Quiet, my hand; he is tame.
Soon, while I dream, will step
And stir the sunken dawn.

2

Before I woke there entered in
A woman with a golden skin
That tangled with the light.
A tang of orchards climbed the stair
And dwindled in the waxen air,
Crisping the midnight,
And the white pillows of my bed
On apple-tasted darkness fed.
Weakened with appetite
Sleep broke like a dish wherein
A woman lay with golden skin.

We move on from our recurring summer theme to one that I like and think about quite frequently: dreams. Oddly enough, I also have a puzzle of a drawing/painting by this author, who I guess is also an artist? But I suppose that word covers all manners of sins of creativity, right? ;)

Part 1 seems to be when the author goes to sleep and begins the process of quieting his body and his mind. The 'hand' and 'leopard' refer to the author's constant need to write and compose during the day, which now at nighttime he must put to rest.

I suppose the 'woman with a golden skin' represents his wife or lover, someone to cause him to awake from his slumber. Or, it could be the 'golden' sun...rousing him from his sleepy state to again live in a world where his writing takes precedent before all other things. To begin the day is to begin the writing process; I think, ergo I write. Nighttime is for reflection, for free range of thoughts without control of the artist, the subconscious and creativity resting to begin another day...