Vault of the Sky

 

Sebaldian rock...

I know it's in bad taste to use AI on anything touched by Sebald, but it would be quite difficult to write such songs for a band and think they'd understand Rings of Saturn.

"I had long left the beach fishermen behind me when, in the early afternoon, I reached Benacre Broad, a lake of brackish water beyond a bank of shingle halfway between Lowestoft and Southwold. The lake is encircled by deciduous woodland that is now dying, owing to the steady erosion of the coastline by the sea. Doubtless it is only a matter of time before one stormy night the shingle bank is broken, and the appearance of the entire area changes. But that day, as I sat on the tranquil shore, it was possible to believe one was gazing into eternity. The veils of mist that drifted inland that morning had cleared, the vault of the sky was empty and blue, not the slightest breeze was stirring, the trees looked painted, and not a single bird flew across the velvet-brown water. It was as if the world were under a bell jar, until great cumulus clouds brewed up out of the west casting a grey shadow upon the earth." (Rings of Saturn p. 59) 

The vault of the sky
Was empty and blue
On one stormy night
The shingle bank was broken

On a tranquil shore
In the early afternoon
The steady erosion
Of the land into dunes

Vault of the sky
At Benacre Broad
Erosion of the coastline
By the sea

The veils of mist
That drifted inland
Deciduous trees
Now left in the sand

Not the slightest breeze
Amid the painted trees
Not a single bird
Above the water world

***