A response to WINTER SLEEP, a film by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2014)
Is it not a relief
to be in winter? To be
thoroughly winter-bound
and not need to respond
to spring's thaw or summer's summons.
Those seasons overflow with an energy
that demands the most fervent response
from us who created the notion of
Beautiful Weather, and our life within
and without it, until we and season are one.
Here, now I sit contented,
overlooking the very earliest
winter light, revealing a stark landscape,
rerduced in color and form, demanding
no answering voice from me, our privacies intact.
Oh, what grand romantic schemes
will surely be reborn in me
when green and yellow, red and pink,
purple and blue return and awaken something
sleeping in me which wants only deeper repose.
The core truth of winter - you feel it
in the cold air - is its surrender to non-being,
in fact, its embrace of non-being...
And the emotion behind both surrender and
embrace disturbs my winter pattern of repose.
If winter lasted even longer,
would my other emotions be frozen
completely and my self assume
a NADA calm instead of
the riot of spring and the abandon of summer?
That must never be, it must
be resisted with moral resolve.
We are Creatures of Four Seasons,
and each season in its turn
rescues us from the flaw of What Has Passed.
part1/ This beautiful and warm poem is full of meanings, it is considered to be one of the most beautiful poems that have been written for the winter. in which the poetic ability of the poet is embodied, the harsh winter with its heavy snow and its intense cold has caused the creation of this poem.....
part2/ in which every word and line is more beautiful than the other and teaches us the full meaning of life in its diversity, Philosophically deepens the human relationship with the four seasons and at the end we all are nice together.
The core truth of winter - you feel it in the cold air - is its surrender to non-being, in fact, its embrace of non-being... And the emotion behind both surrender and embrace disturbs my winter pattern of repose.
I really love this topic and your views on it. Here in Louisiana, there is hardly a winter - it's very short if it exists at all. In fact one day it may be cold and the next, temperate. But even here you can see and feel how winter sort of freezes people's emotions. Nobody wants to go outside or do anything fun. Then when the warm seasons return it's as if we are different people. I shudder to imagine what we would be like without the other three seasons. Maybe we would adjust, or maybe we wouldn't. Anyhow, your poem gave me something to contemplate. Also, it gave me an idea of what it feels like to endure a real winter up north; and how suffocating it can be.
A very thoughtful and enticing poem, Daniel - it seemed as though I was actually feeling your thoughts as I read it, I could see you looking out the window and thinking of what to say. So many poems have been written about the four seasons, but yours seems to have almost gone into a nether world somewhere and are looking back upon the past in reminiscence. Loved it! Definitely a 10+++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you for sharing. RoseAnn
I love the way you describe the genesis of this poem in my observation of the outer world and attention to the inner world. These are the parallel worlds of our human existence that you made made the central theme of the poems which pour forth from your consciousness. You are a source of inspiration for all of us
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Yes, Daniel, I feel that winter malaise. I welcome it. When you are in the tourism business in an area where summer and fall are boiling with responsibilities, you just want to envelope yourself in warmth, a good book, and wonderful wine, and not worry about the outside world, demanding no answering voice from me... absolutely wonderful! ...