The poems in this collection arise from the vivid awareness that we are immersed in mystery.
Dwelling in the shadow of Gabriel's wing we are called to embrace the plenitude of miracle and
melancholy that weave our lives. The cover painting of Caspar David Friedrich intimates this
spirit: two gazes-a man's and a woman's-contemplate and converge in a vision beyond themselves.
A vast sky canopies a somber forest: at the penumbral verge of luminous and tenebrous realms
their surrender embodies the harmony of opposites-the present moment permeated by eternal
presence coalescence of the spiritual and sensual the personal and universal nature and
culture transcendence and immanence the communion between the finite and the infinite
(Novalis).'By many aspects Michael Bradburn-Ruster a mature man and poet is 'The Wanderer
above the Sea of Fog' (1817) as depicted in another of Caspar David Friedrich's paintings. In
our terrible days of Covid-19 pandemic Michael Bradburn-Ruster examplifies 'The Function of
the Poet' as defined by French poet Victor Hugo in 1830 : 'In such times gone awry The poet
brings tidings of better days.' Alain Saint-Saëns French poet.
