A poetic alba is a song at dawn, sometimes in a dialogue, sometimes chanted and often to denote the regret of lovers who have to leave each other at dawn.
It follows the Provençal Troubadour tradition: alba meaning ‘white’ in Occitan.
Loss. Regret. Overwhelming longing almost to a lamentation.
The absence of a presence and the presence of an absence: hiraeth in Welsh, saudade in Portuguese, tezeta (ትዝታ) in Amharic.
White the moon
white the wine
white the light
white the leaf
white the rock
white the bark
white the stone
white the dawn
Memory; archival inkjet print mounted on aluminum, 2019
Danielle Morris (no other information). Exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia in 2019
2 thoughts on “Love 23: the song at dawn called an ‘alba’”
Sarah, I have returned to this particular entry many times.The image is utterly exquisite !
I like to continue. ‘white the.. ‘ and imagine
hearing albas at dawn. How alluring.
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Thanks for the comment, Jane. The poem is very evocative.
Sarah, I have returned to this particular entry many times.The image is utterly exquisite !
I like to continue. ‘white the.. ‘ and imagine
hearing albas at dawn. How alluring.
Thanks for the comment, Jane. The poem is very evocative.