Oh night, oh sweet time
Five harmonious words convey to us the perception of enchantment
gently opening the doors to another world
Then a fragile ripple runs like a tingling thrill
Although black
And subsides like the air of a deep sigh during slumber
Beyond
He clearly sees and understands, he who exalts you
The energetic exclamation resounds like a trumpet paying homage to the victor
And he who honors you is in full possession of his intellect
Then amazement
Oh shadow of death
Before which halts every misery of the soul, enemy of the heart
Oh serene vision of death of which night is the image
Night that leads the soul-psyche to liberate itself, freed from the heavy bonds of the rational as it enters the realm of dreams
And in this world, rari nantes, flow fragments of thought.
The hour of Vespers is perhaps the most ancient time of prayer, one of the most important of the Canonical Hours, toward evening, between the Ninth and the Compline.
It is the evening prayer, whose name strikes an unsettling assonance with Vesper, as the ancient classics used to refer to the planet Venus which stood out majestically against the crepuscular sky. The sensual threshold to the night that we hurry to cross aboard a piano-boat, whose helmsman calls upon us to gather up all the thoughts of the day that has just elapsed. Then, finally, the prayer, composed of gestures and movement, as simple as life itself.
Bruno Moretti

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