suddenly it is evening
“every one of us stands alone on the heart of the earth,
Transfixed by a beam of sun;
And suddenly it is evening.”
Salvatore Quasimodo
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I love this for its brevity. And its reminder of brevity, well, within its brevity.
It is a reminder that Life is brief.
It is a reminder you have an opportunity to do something meaningful, something that makes an impact (I believe that is that the ‘heart of the earth’ thing)
It’s a reminder that doing something meaningful permits you to bask, even if but briefly, in a spotlight and the warmth of sun.
It’s a reminder that death comes to us all … it is inevitable … so don’t waste time in the beam of sun, for, in the end, the sun sets and it is evening.
But most of all I believe I like it for its positiveness.
That life is lived in light.
It’s a nice thought.
It’s an important thought.
Ponder.
lovely – this might be my favorite post yet.
well, thank you Jen. i had no idea who salvatore quasimodo was nor ever heard these lines before and i don’t remember where i saw it … but … i wrote it down.
And it wasn’t just the poem, it was how you interpreted it…not sayin’ you’re the latest quasimoto, mind you…
I cataloged a book in a public library 50 years ago and this poem was in it. It has haunted me ever since. I finally realized that it does not state that death is the end of all, but that life must be lived as best we can because it is short. We are uniquely responsible for our own God-given life.