The Bright Field by R.S. Thomas

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
 
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
 
NOTE: I just discovered a wonderful Welsh poet, R. S. Thomas. He died in 2000 at 87 years of age. He was a clergyman and a self taught poet. He was very active in preserving Wales from over-development. Later in life he wrote poems such as this one, jewels of incandescent insight.