Even Prompter

Evensong

Evensong

Bell

Emerging from the trees
to a wheatfield warm in cloudless sun,
the air, still, and sound silent,
till from the distant copse,
a dark splash across the faded horizon,
the languid, round and haunting note,
“cuck-oo,” a pause and then again,
fainter even than before,
as though flying away, “cuck-oo.”

Transported then to a timeless place,
an England ever steeped in summer,
I stand in gentle warmth, unmindful
of present troubles, deep in reverie
of peace eternal, induced
by the cuckoo’s ephemeral call.

From the shaded churchyard behind,
a peal of bells, ringing forth,
a celebration of the gifted land.

Book

On the lectern, a book,
massive, ancient, weighty,
and imposing, illuminated
by a ray of sunlight escaping
the coloured glass of a window
high up near the dark and shadowed,
vaulted ceiling, arched above
and spreading its cloak of gloom
upon the furthest reaches
of the statued niches,
the regiments of ordered pews,
the dusty flags and banners,
once bright and garish, now dulled
by the ages and tarnished memories.

But lifted on the dais,
highlighted by the shaft illuminant,
living and breathing in that atmosphere,
the book, open and the pages reflecting
the reason for being.

Candle

Evening,
the light fading from the stained glass
of the windows,
no longer affording a coloured and hazy
glow to the interior,
the darkness gathering and growing
from the walls
until the candles are lit,
the priest in his vestments shuffling
up and down the aisles,
creating those bright, sharp points of light
in globes of vision along the choir,
the nave and chancel.

In the still air,
the multiple flames stand upright,
unwavering, in the darkness,
silent sentinels to the night.


Line count: 57
Free verse
For Promptly Poetry, Week 21, October 2021
Prompts: Bell, book, candle.