La Nuit Blanche
The night was white and sleepless
Dreamless, though the lion
And his pride roared, growled, grumbled
In the thick black sky
Somewhere by now over Europe
Say Southern Grecian isles
A plane was on its way
Winking blinking on its way
Steadfast, freighted with the ones loved
Joining the dots, making the links
And in a winter Sydney office one man
Prayed his child was sleeping, wife was coping
(Though he knew that god was gone)
While a thousand miles apart, rain of England, heat of France
Two grandmothers held their breath and waited
Waited, for the dawn and love to come
The night was white and sleepless
Dreamless, though the lion
And his pride roared, growled, grumbled
In the thick black sky
Somewhere by now over Europe
Say Southern Grecian isles
A plane was on its way
Winking blinking on its way
Steadfast, freighted with the ones loved
Joining the dots, making the links
And in a winter Sydney office one man
Prayed his child was sleeping, wife was coping
(Though he knew that god was gone)
While a thousand miles apart, rain of England, heat of France
Two grandmothers held their breath and waited
Waited, for the dawn and love to come
6th August 2009, Hounoux
As atmospheric as that very night. I hope all was well and they landed safely with loved ones waiting at arrivals.
ReplyDeleteFrom Jenny:
ReplyDeleteOh Sally! This is just so beautiful! I think it's your best yet!!!
This poem was written during the night whilst our son's wife and his son were flying home to visit England. Jude, who comments above, was staying with us and together we were disturbed by a sudden ferocious thunder storm. Afterwards I didn't sleep until I wrote this at 5.30 and then finally did doze off. I hear that they did survive, that Zach wasn't too difficult though lively all the way, and that Hayley hadn't slept a single wink for more than 24hrs. The French call a sleepless night 'une nuit blanche'.
From Dan, who is the man in the Sydney office:
ReplyDeleteThink that's just about the most beautiful poem I've ever read, and let's just say it brought me to pretty full-on man-tears!
From Kathryn Bywaters: I like this poem tremendously. It has a smokey/ thick emotion to it and though you use limited words you can feel the emotions of everyone in it. The emotional story is very visible.
ReplyDelete