Life is dappled don't you know Not all bright field Not all pitch black Not all twilight Not all dawn Life is dappled don't you know Not all sunset Not all dusk Not all half light Not all starlight Life is dappled don't you know More like puddles of sunbeams strewn across the path More like mottled patches of shade upon the earth More like shadows cast, that lengthen towards the night More like shafts of golden rays that quicken the heart Life is dappled don't you know
R.S. Thomas wrote a poem called ‘The Bright Field’. In this he writes the line, ‘life is not hurrying onto a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past’. I often need to repeat this to myself.
Artist Meg Wroe has helped me by painting numerous images about this poem https://megwroe.com/bright-field. Stopping and looking at her art situates me in this present moment.
When I read ‘The Bright Field’ and dwell on its’ images, it makes me think of my life as a film reel. When I view my life like this I am reminded that the field is always there. I try and notice where the sun has broken through and illuminated things for a while. I tell myself that when it is pitch dark, that it does not stay this way. The field is just beyond the trees. So I look out for shadows forming out of the darkness, I know then that light is on its’ way. The dawn has broken upon the field, is coming to brighten things for a while, to illuminate the treasure that is found here. Life will be dappled again.
