Transports de joie – Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messaien is such an extraordinary composer, going from ecstatic heights to the darkest depths of human nature

that first

outburst,

a universe

inventing itself

as it expands;

the will to be

is born again

time after time,

making, unmaking,

propelled by joy

from the beginning.

 

showers of high notes

like shafts of sunlight

pierce through the deep dark

that dances with dust motes.

 

out of what darkness

did this rise in you?

 

mysterious joy,

wild to the core,

beyond anything

that can be known -

from the inexpressible source,

that first explosion

of possibility,

to that bird singing,

singing, high on that tree,

celebrating life’s capacity

for infinite delight.

 

at any point impossible

to tell where it will go,

how unfold,

inventing time, space, place,

and the joy of being,

so finely balanced

in wonder and terror,

creation and destruction,

hear the thunder of it

in this wild music.

Reviews

[emmajoygreen]

'showers of high notes
like shafts of sunlight
pierce through the deep dark
that dances with dust motes'

A symphony of words, Helena.. so many parts echoing composers moods and intentions from start to finish the highs and lows, the stay and fly. Your poem is a brilliant and held echo of what was offered

'in wonder and terror,
creation and destruction,
hear the thunder of it
in this wild music.'