TLS: Poem du jour

Divina Lux
by Simon Pomery

after Seneca, Epistle 102

Nature will reveal to you her secrets.
The haze that covers what you see will vanish
and light will pierce you through the clear air.
Imagine it as great as all the stars
blended together, incorruptible
radiance, untouched by night or shadow.

Its flame will fill all space, all sides of the sky:
day and night are only interchanged
in our lower sphere. This is the time
when you will rage and cry against the darkness
for having spent your life in ignorance.
At one remove, you look upon the marvel.

But how will you perceive the perfect light?
What will you think, when you are in its presence?
These thoughts allow for nothing sordid, mean
or cruel to trap the mind; to make it known
that everything we do is being watched,
to bid us earn the gods' good will and pity,

to keep the image of the heavens before us.

published in the Times Literary Supplement