(no subject)

[larryhammer]

For Poetry Monday, for the new year:


Janus: Sonnet, John M. Ford

Sufficient time for faith and miracles
We find we cannot fit into our days,
And nothing's left at all that joyous dwells
Inside the heart. The spark of spirit stays
Too small for dreamburst, and all earth may prove
Inadequate for art. No human is
This potent all alone, and fear kills love....
Love kills fear, and alone; all-potent, this.
No human is inadequate for art,
For dreamburst; and all earth may prove too small.
The spark of spirit stays inside the heart
That joyous dwells, and nothing's left at all
We cannot fit into our days. We find
For faith and miracles, sufficient time.


—L.

Comments

[sartorias]

He was so. Brilliant.

[larryhammer]

Yes.

[kalmn]

Sometimes I think about the two or three books he'll have written since he died, by the time I die.

(http://www.jowaltonbooks.com/poetry/new-myths-for-old-gold/bookstores-of-heaven/)

[larryhammer]

Oh yeah.

[thistleingrey]

aaah. :/ Thanks.

[larryhammer]

De nada.

[cmcmck]

Not someone I knew so thanks! :o)

[larryhammer]

Then you have a lot of excellent discovery ahead of you. He’s better known for his wide-ranging and brilliant SF and fantasy novels, but he was also an excellent poet.

[sunlit_stone]

I literally swore our loud when I finished this, the way you do sometimes when something is just the right kind of good. I knew "Against Entropy"--it's one of my favourites, I have it memorized--and "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" (another one of my favourites...though for obvious reasons, not memorized), but I didn't know this one. Thank you.

I wonder if there's a collection somewhere? I should look into it.

[larryhammer]

Given it's in the works that Tor is bringing Ford's backlist back into print (all except the media tie-in novels) I'm hopeful a collected poetry will arrive sometime.

[sunlit_stone]

Here's hoping! That would be great.