Light, angelic and black, / laughter of waves on the sea's highways.../light mirrored in blood,' George Seferis wrote in the last section of his long poem, The Thrush. In this complex image, he perhaps came closest to condensing the core of his poetic vision and philosophy. Much of this passage is derived from entries made in his journal in summer 1946: 'There is a drama of blood much deeper, much more organic (body and soul), which may become apparent to whoever perceives that behind the gray and golden weft of the Attic summer exists a frightful black; that we are all playthings of this black.'
This image is the point of departure for Richard Burns' Black Light. He acknowledges Seferis as a major influence on all of his work.
For poems from Black Light on this website, click here.
For a related text, see also A little further?