Mirror Reflected in Mirror - Spiegel im Spiegel

I sit and doze, and listen and dream,
The fire is warm, the music plays;
Peaceful I feel, drowsy too,
So snug and blest in many ways.

The candle flickers to and fro
Back and forth - in reflection;
Further and further to infinite realms,
As now I rest in contemplation.

Reflective music gently plays
Simple and pure in quiet sonority;
I close my eyes; my mind now wanders -
Violin and piano in perfect tranquility.

Still the music gently plays
'Spiegel im Spiegel' the duo weaves
My memory roams – in a garden -
A child amongst the autumn leaves.

By soothing music, across the years,
My mind is carried forward in time;
I see a father with his children -
Across a rocky beach they climb.

In the dusk, a couple I see,
On a garden bench they rest;
As one by one the stars appear,
One to another their love expressed.

The candle flickers to and fro,
Through the glass, ever dimmer;
Indistinct the future view,
What augurs holds the faintest glimmer?

In light and dark I saw my life,
With introspection so divine;
Back and forth to infinite realms,
Now music fades and thoughts decline.
 
 

This poem was written after having listened to a short piece of music (Spiegel im Spiegel) written by Arvo Pärt in 1978.   Arvo Pärt, a composer of classical and sacred music, was born in 1935 in Estonia, which he left in 1980 for Austria then Germany.  The music, which lasts a little over eight minutes, has been used extensively in TV, film and radio programmes where the creation of ‘atmosphere’ was thought to be important.  Some would say it has been over-used.  (Google ‘Spiegel im Spigel’)

"Spiegel im Spiegel" in German, can mean "mirror in the mirror" referring to an ‘infinity mirror’, which produces an infinity of images reflected by parallel plane mirrors: the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth.  This mirroring is achieved through the fragments in the piano, which are endlessly repeated with small variations, as if reflected back and forth. (Adapted from Wikipedia).
 
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