For the dverse prompt, sleep.
The stars blaze silently,
while moon sets in a pool of gold,
and I listen to the watery ripple of the poplars,
lullaby-rocking the house where day folk live,
and trip, night time, barefoot after dreams
of sunken pearls and moonstones,
glowing in a sea king’s hands
or rowan berries, glowing bright as flame
where visions dance.
Stars wheel on the eternal sea,
tides of sparks that ravel up the day’s cares,
and drop our thoughts like pebbles
into the bottomless well of sleep.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
Nice ending with dropping thoughts into sleep’s well. I was thinking like a wishing well, but perhaps this is a dreaming well. I liked this phrase: “moon sets in a pool of gold”
Thanks Frank. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the moon set before, but last night I did, and it was pure gold.
Oh that is so beautiful. You could record that and sell it to folk as a sleeping meditation. Stunning. Hope the move went well.
The move was hellish, but the wonderful thing is it’s over and I can fall asleep to the sound of utter silence. If you discount the owls and various snuffles and yaps from passing wildlife…
Good to hear the suffering is done. Enjoy the quiet ( apart from the Owls n stuff)
I like the owls really. It’s the motor car I hate.
I’m with you on that. We are pretty isolated but still the trucks rumble by in the night and the sound carries.
Ah, it’s not the noise of other people’s cars that bothers me—nobody uses our tiny road except the four neighbours, so it’s silent as the grave—it’s the thing that I have to get into the habit of driving to do the shopping occasionally. Cars and I don’t get on.
Bicycle and basket? 😉
I can’t ride a bike…
Your new digs sound divine. The few times I have spent time in the country, the silence & total darkness were hard to adjust too. Your poem is lovely, and yes, dreamy.
Thanks Glenn. It is strange at first and unsettling, but when you look at the stars, you can see why we need the dark and the silence 🙂
This is wonderful… for some reason the rowan berries talked most to me… maybe because the trees are aflame with them at the moment.
Full of northern magic 🙂
You painted a magical world where sleep resides. So good.
Thank you, Vivian 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂
Such lovely images, Jane–the poplars lullaby-rocking, the moon setting, the rowan berries. . .
Thank you 🙂 I wish we had rowan trees here, but it’s the wrong climate.
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
Thank you, Michael 🙂
With a great pleasure! Seems you are back online! Heartly welcome, and excuse me late revisiting of your blog. Have a nice weekend ahead, Jane! Michael 😉
You weren’t late at all, Michael. I’m only just reconnected with the outside world 🙂
Excuse the inconvenience, Jane! Now, we had ourself a short delay, because our blogging machine was infected by an drive-by-virus. We are back with reblogging and posting at 16:30 MESZ (in three hours). Michael
No inconvenience for me, Michael. Hope you’re cleaned up successfully though 🙂
Everything’s better barefoot. Lovely poem, Jane!
Thanks Jilly 🙂 Now I’m back in the saddle I’ll carry on with Jim Harrison (who I invariably start to write as Morrison).
Look forward to it!
🙂
“I listen to the watery ripple of the poplars, lullaby-rocking the house”
I love that.
Thanks, Marley 🙂
A night full of magic and beauty.
That’s exactly right 🙂
I love this – especially those last two lines!
Thanks Betty. The changing light at sunset is full of magic 🙂
I felt as if I knew this place through your words.
“Stars wheel on the eternal sea”
That is a great image.
Thank you! I still can’t get used to how many stars I can see at night compared with the few we saw in town.
Great to see you back, Jane, blazing silent stars!
I love the ‘watery ripple of the poplars’ and the ‘rowan berries, glowing bright as flame’. For all the trees we have in our garden, and the name of our cottage, the nearest poplars and rowans are a mile or so down the road. More echoes of Shakespeare in that wonderful line:
‘tides of sparks that ravel up the day’s cares,
and drop our thoughts like pebbles
into the bottomless well of sleep’.
Thanks Kim 🙂 It’s good to be back. I do love to pinch bits of Shakespeare. He wrote all the best lines after all.
You have a gift with words and this is simply stunning! Seems country life suits you well 🙂
Thanks Lynn 🙂 When I’m tired I just let my brain slip out of gear and coast along.
It’s great to see you find inspiration in your new home, Jane.
It would be hard not to 🙂
This is beautiful! I wish I could get my thoughts to drop “into the endless pit of sleep”, but they just keep rattling around!
For years my efforts have been like that too. Sleep comes easier here, probably because it’s so dead quiet there are no distractions 🙂
Lovely poem, Jane. If only I could drop my thoughts into that well of sleep. My mind keeps churnin’ long after I hit the sack.
Thanks, Michelle. I had that problem for years. Since we moved, and since Finbar has decided he prefers sleeping with the cats in the veranda where he can keep an eye on the wildlife, I’ve been sleeping right through. Hope it continues!
I love this piece, beautiful images!
Thank you!
“Star wheels on the eternal sea” what an image. Dreamy, indeed!
Thank you 🙂