Thursday, August 16, 2018

Before Sunrise


Read "Before Sunrise" at The Eldritch Dark:


This is another of the early poems unpublished during Clark Ashton Smith's (CAS) lifetime.  

It strikes me as a fairly straightforward nature study, but infused with CAS' unique ability to add drama and wonder to events that less imaginative folks might consider to be mundane.

The first stanza is particularly powerful, with an easy flowing musical language:



I rose in that hushed hour before the dawn

          Unveils its wonder old yet ever-new,

When still the night lies languidly upon
          The earth, though stars are growing faint and few.


The poem ends with an image of the author turning from west to east, as he first experiences the end of night, and then encounters the new day rising as he switches his perspective.  Granted that this is minor item in the overall body of poetic work from CAS, it nonetheless demonstrates his ability to add a sense of narrative even to a short poem.

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