Evening shimmers, or: Twilight eyelids

Posted on by ben Alexander

A Quadrille in the form of a Haibun

The ancient Sages of the Talmud taught:

Fire is one-sixtieth of hellfire; honey, one-sixtieth of manna; the Sabbath, one-sixtieth of the ‘World to Come’; sleep, one-sixtieth of death; and a dream, one-sixtieth of prophecy.

sunlight hours lengthen
evenings aglow with shimmers
twilight eyelids droop

d’Verse Quadrille #152

The above Haibun is my take on today’s d’Verse’s Quadrille challenge.

The Quadrille is simply a poem of 44 words (excluding the title), and it can take any form. This week’s challenge was to use the word “sleep” in a Quadrille.

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

70 thoughts on “Evening shimmers, or: Twilight eyelids”

  3. That’s a great caution and appreciation in fraction the way the ancient sages of the Talmud.
    So guard your life.
    Beautiful what you did there with the Sunlight, how the evening and twilight rely upon it for their existence depending on the season.

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_and_Talmudic_units_of_measurement#Volume

      The Israelite system of powder/liquid volume measurements corresponds exactly with the Babylonian system… the Babylonian system is founded on multiples of 6 and 10, namely units of 1, 12, 24, 60, 72 (60 plus 12), 120, and 720… In the Israelite system, the term log is used in place of the Babylonian mina but the measurement is otherwise the same.

      Veera,

      The Israelite counting system corresponds to the Babylonian counting system because the Israelites were exiled from their kingdom in 587 BCE to Babylonia, where they lived for many years. See here:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity

  7. I love that you combined poetic forms here, and I like the saying from the Talmud. A satisfying poem to read (and to write, I imagine, getting everything to come out to exactly 44 words).

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