Paradise Regained

To read is to be with a buried word / That could have lain unheard—to be alone / And not alone where memories are stirred / On this the page that stores them as its own: / ‘Tis to be all at listen, all an ear / Of inward hearing well, to answer not / But to be taught beneath a bygone year / By one whose mast’ry did not with him rot. / To write is to speak well without a voice / Across the years that threaten, ‘tis to be / A little careful in a little choice / Of shapes that hold a sound that some may see / Tomorrow and tomorrow where we are / Not seen again, but heard afar, afar.

Verses in English, French, Welsh…and even a poem which needs some musical staves to aid its full realisation! Commencing with an interesting biographical sketch of the Author, this volume gives us more of Fr David Jones’ poetical work. Not for the faint of heart! These verses deserve and sometimes demand much silence, committed musing on life, and give birth to quiet yet persistent questioning of how we perceive the world.