In Winter Light Akl Awit

In Winter Light Akl Awitla lumire dhiver (1977) is a central work in the writing of the Swiss French poet Philippe Jaccottet (1925 2021). Written in middle age, it forms a bridge between the poets intricate early lyrics and his more expansive and meditative later work. Starting from a direct confrontation with the raw facts of mortality, its three poem sequences strip away further layers of illusion until a glimmer of meaning starts to appear in the winter light of the

strange and imaginative

their hands were full of stones

the thrum of music

Rashid al-Daif: excerpt from the novel Learning English

Silent Running

and autobiographical memory

The composer Aleksandr Lokshin wrote a symphonic poem based on the poem

and he’s wondering if there isn’t more to life

Was she a wonder worker

suitable for all ages

or his given language’s

technically brilliant and eloquent with passionate anger