Gillian Clarke on the London Underground
August 02, 2010On a busy London train in the last few weeks of July I was very happy to see some of Gillian Clarke's poetry displayed between adverts for me to read. It really made me smile and forget the intrusive odour wafting around the stuffy carriage. The poem was call Ode to Joy and is as follows:
Exultation! Salutation
to the long midsummer days,
to the light lost by the minute,
sing, and sing the dark away.
In the park the lover's listen,
blackbird's last song of the day.
Bats are scribbling verse on twilight.
Owls are calling, Kyrie.
Soon a gathering of swallows,
like a stanza on a wire,
voices rising in crescendo,
in hall and stadium and choir.
In the theatre of summer,
stars ascending in their arc,
company and conversation.
Sing,and sing away the dark!
Thank you to Gillian Clarke for brightening up my day!
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