Farewell . . . and If Forever

Résumé du livre

In this, his third collection of verse, Johann Moser again reaches deeply into the literary traditions of many times and cultures to create for us an abundance of delightful verse in different forms and on an astounding variety of themes. Here are tender love poems, lovely evocations of natural landscapes and of the creatures that inhabit them, and even a fantasy piece inspired by the novels of modern masters such as Tolkien and C.S . Lewis. One sequence in this collection promotes the retrieval of a number of venerable medieval genres, including Arthurian motifs, a troubadour love song, a Crusader hymn, and a satirical "confession" of the notorious folklore scoundrel Reynard the Fox. Another sequence, titled "Dizains," explores, in a series of ten-line lyric pieces, some of the intimate aspects of personal life. Other poems in this work resound with the energy and color of great images culled from a multitude of sources, including, among others, the Rosenkavalier's marvelous entrance bearing the Silver Rose of betrothal, the prayer of Odysseus to the white sea-goddess Leucothea, the great philosopher Abelard's touching lament over a dying rabbit, and the stampede of a herd of wild bulls down from the biblically famed mountains of Bashan. In short, here is a gallery of dynamic compositions to delight the intellect and illuminate the soul of our time.