The Hours
The first poem, Time marks the Candle, introduces the order of the hours, using the turn of the sonnet in the last two lines to introduce our use of this form, to describe life. We follow the poems mainly by quoting the final lines, and a line of description.
Reading from 'Time Marks a Candle'
The hours we share our memories define
To weave the tapestry of life’s design
Time Marks the Candle
Matins then brings us from the womb into the light of the world.
We are then truly sentient, and find
From dark womb, light: first sight no longer blind.
Matins
And Lauds encourages us to contemplate the path our life may take.
Light a taper, flood illumination,
Show us the path to our destination
Lauds
Prime and Terce explore the days of growing up and our progress to maturity with memories of holidays and Christmases, and the experience of first love
The filaments are gone, the clocks tight wound,
As sext hours chimes, maturity is found.
Terce
Sext unfolds our adult years, family life, relationships - and temptations
Then another tempts and with looks and charms
Soft betrayal lies naked in my arms.
Sext
None brings us to face our mortality. We sense old age, but take pleasure in the life we have lived
We look on our achievements, and with pride,
Dream tomorrow’s dreams, standing side by side.
None
In Vespers we see the decline, in those we love, and the cruelty of illness.
Disjointed the tectonic plates of thought
Push and slip, and slide, in shaking mind-quakes,
Fissured by forgetfulness.
Vespers
Compline brings us to the end of our journey, guiding us through the grief of loss until, revived, we calmly contemplate the end of our life and reunion with those we love, and have lost
My spirits start to lift and I survive,
To pass my days until I hear the knell,
That calls me to obey my compline bell.
Compline
