I read this morning "Sudden Light" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), a Pre-Raphaelite. It purportedly "deals with one of his most deeply held beliefs: that true lovers occupy an eternal space which defines their relationship, a fact registered by deja-vu experiences". This poem is my response.

PS My house here by the sea in Dorset is based on an "Arts And Crafts" design by William Morris, who was also part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood! I just love it! :)) xx

DÉJÀ VU


In an ebb or flow of twilight
or unblinking sun’s full gaze;
in jumbo’s hard-line vapour trail,
idle river’s subtle haze.

With autumn’s spiralling of colour
and winter pond’s dull, blinded eye;
as fluff-ducklings take to water
or wild geese chevron the sky.

In chafed neck above a collar
or curved instep on a sole;
in two hands held that mate like frogs,
a union of the whole.

That brow that casts a shadow
under strain of great duress;
the arc that’s scribed across a face
beneath a thumb’s caress.

In twists of light and bends of time
one essence threads its way;
through ages long or hours short
the tally’s but one day.

With sudden upturn of a face
or some downward bending eye
the heart is caught, the soul unleashed
and, with silent inward cry,

there forms a mirrored path of breath
in which we cast our own –
how can split parts of one true self
to other not be known?

What’s in the past’s not dead and gone,
live future’s still in store:
I’ll know you then like I know you now
as I’ve known you since before.