Massive white clouds
bank against the mountains
while a blue gray blanket
spreads over the sea.
Nootka roses bloom
as the camas wilt and fade.
The chitter of birds in the forest,
the cry of gulls across the bay
and the slow beating of my heart.
The ease of love
where her face is unveiled
in shore grass green and yellow
waving in the ocean breeze.
Is that enough to draw you near
before the sky grows dark
and night closes in?
Reading of “Before the Sky Grows Dark” with music by Van Morrison
Yes, was enough to draw me in. Did it with the first discernment of color in the cloud cover. I’m making up what Nootka roses are and aching to imagine the details of the camas lilies.
J
Don, the timing of your poem’s arrival is perfect. Nancy and I had just come from a walk along Lake Michigan in our old Chicago neighborhood. Just as you saw, the sky, the shore grass, the birds, everything made the beach the place to be on the first day Chicago has the beaches open. Little kids were in up to their knees, unaffected this early in the season by the pollution Mike M. and his Milwaukee neighbors so often send Chicago’s way.
That is enough for me!
This for sure: While my beating heart draws near, in quickened surrender, to the unveiled ease of Love breezing Life’s pure air into deep waters, even the darkness of Night itself cannot for long resist its own inevitable dawning!
Very nice, Don! The background music was also a fine selection.
Yes. The music is quite perfect. The images so deeply familiar. I too have been thinking and painting along these lines. Thank you Don.