Carol Rumens' "Daylight Spending"

Having returned from the States on Tuesday and thinking last night about how much the earlier dark affected me, I was reading Carol Rumens' new book, De Chirico's Threads, and came across this poem. I appreciate its density, how much it suggests about the nuances of living with changing light and time, and the straightforward, but not every line, rhyme. I love the opening phrase, "Atrophied days"--that's exactly right, it seems to me.

Daylight Spending

Atrophied days begin with too much light,

Cut teeth too soon, develop, and start dying

Too young. They leave us to negotiate

The road that steepens after clocks start lying

Perhaps, though, they were lying earlier?

We've put them back for synchronicity

With our sweet flaws: the legless sleeps, the dither,

The touching faith in electricity.

Carol Rumens

De Chirico's Threads

(Seren Books, 2010)

You can buy De Chirico's Threads at a 20% discount directly from the publisher.