Ae stallings nocturnal meaning12/4/2023 ![]() ![]() The clouds clearing beyond the dormer windowĪnd a high tide reflected on the ceiling? Read these heartening words from Northern Irish poet, Derek Mahon: Maybe today I won’t be pain free but I might experience less pain than yesterday maybe I just need to believe that tomorrow will be better but if it isn’t then it’s still going to be okay – poetry helps. Poetry, I believe, helps the body reclaim the soul and opens the door to healing which can come in all forms and at varying speeds. It seems we’re much less imaginative nowadays the passionate heart is just a pump, the meditative mind merely a muscle, the body reduced to a soulless machine. In fact, fifteenth century medicine viewed the body as a manifestation of the soul and considered emotions, desires, thoughts and personal history when administering to patients. Ancient physicians used to talk about the poetics of illness and were concerned with the rhythms of the body and soul. Can a poem cure a physical or mental complaint? Well it wont make it worse! I think poetry operates along the same lines as faith, belief and conviction. Poets distil sickness and their poems are remedies for healing. I’ve read books on ill-health, many inspiring and motivational in their own way, but personally, I have never found anything more uplifting than a poem. I’ve been unwell on and off, with bouts lasting anywhere from a couple of weeks to months at a time and like anyone, sometimes my resolve is low and I’ve got to dig deep to find the strength to make it through the day. After enjoying more than forty years of good health, the last three or four have been difficult for me. They invariably inhabit the sickness, reach inside the jaws of pain and feel its teeth, reporting back lyrically what it is, was and will be like for the rest of us. Poets with the use of sensitive, graceful and eloquent language can express so intimately what it feels like to be sick. That’s when I turn to poetry for succour because on the subject of pain and sickness writers are voluble. Illness can strike at any time and you either recover swiftly or you don’t. If you’re lucky, a sudden breeze will whip up and steer the bow seaward, if you’re not, the captain drops anchor and you find yourself confined to your cabin. Sickness and ill-health are like sailing vessels adrift in the clear water of your body. Whatever the cause, pain and sickness can stop you in your tracks, causing upset at a minimum but can lead to despair, depression and sometimes death. It is transitory for some, persistent for others. Douleur D’amour – William Adolphe Bouguereau ![]()
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