This Very Day by Robert Girvan

June 1, 2022
Poem title: This Very Day Poet name: Robert Girvan Poem: The news is all bad, so come, let’s savour this very day. Other fine days will appear, but this day comes only once. Shall we make the best of it? Sparrows chatter merrily in the trees - the birch, and oak, and in still-green hedges-rows. The October sky is sharp and tranquil, washed free of summer haze, like a blue sheet lazing on the line. Falling leaves swirl in their autumnal dance forever innocent of ice. It is the time of long walks, and intimate talks, sheltered by whispering leaves. If the day has been fine, the evening is well-set for glorious words that by their inimitable magic, press the incommunicable into speech that endures. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Robert Girvan Robert Girvan has published poetry, most recently in this Poetry Pause program, essays, such as “Searching Cézanne’s Provence” in the literary/arts journal The Goose, book reviews in The Literary Review of Canada and the Globe & Mail, and a non-fiction book, Who Speaks for the River? He has completed a lyrical/historical novel about Cézanne’s last days called The Sleep of the Earth which is a meditation on Cézanne’s life & art. He lives in Toronto and in central France.