Down there,
on the western coastline
of the northern continent,
on a narrow shelf between
the hulking mountains and
the green waves of the vast,
heaving curve of ocean, you
never see the sun rise, you
never see the dawn.

All day long, you struggle to
define a certain aftertaste,
while you hurry to mow the lawn
before it starts to rain again,
before the sky denies the earth
all but the palest green luminosity.

But doesn't it always seem to be
totally worth it for that single
belated moment of clarity, a red
clarity that is like the glorious
heart of a ruby and happens just
before the light is utterly gone,
just before the purple, hissing
steam of the drowned sun rises up
yawning above the triumphant ocean
and the huge black serpents slither
back up onto the newly darkened land.

They are also an evolving life-form,
you know.

02/08/2008