Listening time: under 3 minutes.

The lovely opening line of this poem by William Carlos Williams creates a surprising contrast between the stillness of a rose and the tumult of war.  The rest of the poem picks up, in rhythm and imagery, on the rose, filling out like a breezy zephyr with images of quiet, peace, ease, rest and a sense of abundant time, with uncounted hours during which you forget yourself in an entrancing book.

All this set in ‘times of war’, suggesting that such perfect moments can be found and must be seized, whatever is happening in the big wide world. 

See also Saint-Exupery’s definition of peace, written in the midst of war. 

Photo credits: FotoZeit & RoonZ-nl at pixabay