Light departs, shadows, soapstone sisters
twilight on dining table, end of day
As light departs to let the earth be one with night,
Silence deepens in the mind, and thoughts grow slow;
The basket of twilight brims over with colors
Gathered from within the sacred meadows of the day
And offered like blessings to the gathering Tenebrae.
from Vespers, by John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us
silkannthreades 
And the solstice approaches…
Indeed, it does. But, please, not too quickly. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Beautiful lighting and passage from Vespers, Gallivanta. I love the imagery.
Thank you, Lavinia. From your blog, I know you have a great understanding of beautiful light. I wish I could capture the light in the sky as well as you do.
I am lucky to be observing at the right time, and the camera not too far away.
🙂 🙂
Of course, my eye was drawn to the hardanger tray cloth! But you’ve done such a lovely job of pulling together special bits with great significance to you and putting them into a soothing arrangement!
My aunt would love you and Linda for noticing her tray cloth. It is a work of art. She was a great needlewoman. I am so pleased I am able to share her work with an appreciative audience. 🙂
I’ve bookmarked this one so that I can return to the poem and savor each line.
It is a beautiful poem, Liz. I found John O’Donohue’s To Bless the Space Between Us extremely comforting during one of my difficult patches.
Serenity!
Thank you, YC. I hope you have as much serenity as you need each day.
Thank you. I love that.
🙂 🙂
The light at the end of the day has a warm gentleness that invites us to silence. I especially like “Silence deepens in the mind, and thoughts grow slow;”. It is the act of stilling our minds and letting go of our thoughts. Great insight.
Clanmother, at this time of year, I adore the light at the end of the day. I sit for as long as possible without turning on the light. Natural light glows from the white flowers in the garden. I am so pleased to see your post on silence and letting go. 🙂
What a beautiful and peaceful way to let go of the day.
Thank you, Andrea, although I must confess to not letting it go completely until about 2 am. I am night owl. 😀
Such a serene and lovely photo. I’m loving this series of yours, Ann. 🙂 🙂 And I love the basket of twilight notion.
It’s a lovely notion, indeed. I hope you are finding time for a little quietness after such a big move, packing and unpacking etc. I am glad to see you are keeping up your energy levels with delicious treats. 🙂
I love John O’Donohue!! And your soapstone sisters and the whole thing really………… I echo an earlier comment, it’s lovely to wake up to your posts!
Thank you, Pauline. I am happy to share some lovely quiet with you.
I like it.<3
Thank you, Laleh. It’s a special time of day for me, now that I don’t have a busy household to look after around meal time.
I love me times, LOL ❤
🙂 🙂 🙂
Lovely and engaging.
Thank you, Sally. I couldn’t quite catch the dancing light as you did in your photos. 🙂
There are undertones here, brought about by the juxtaposition of ‘Tenebrae’ and the cross worked into the mat beneath the flowers. It’s lovely, and resonant.
Oh, the loveliness of having an eye like yours perusing my images. I was not conscious of the juxtaposition of cross and Tenebrae when I took the photo. The tray cloth is a permanent fixture on my table. It is dearly loved because it was made by my aunt. To the right of the plate (and out of sight to you) is a small china dog which belonged to my grandfather, and then later to my aunt. The dog, the cloth, and the sculpture (a gift from my sister) fill me with sweet memories, especially towards evening. Bless your sharp eye for bringing the cross to my attention.
I’m so glad you are doing this. It’s a great way to start my day. Thank you, my friend.
🙂 🙂 I need to get some morning images posted, though, for those of you who wake up to my posts. All in good time, eh?
No. Keep it going as is. Plus the time difference is a great reminder that the world doesn’t revolve around our time.
But I will move to morning at some stage; not very early morning because I am not an early riser. By the way, are you able to check my full wordpress page? There’s a little photo on the right hand side which you might enjoy.
Bravo, Ann, Bravo!
Thanks, GP, for your resounding comment of appreciation.
Chiaroscuro.
Nicely put. 🙂
Nicely shown.
Thank you.