I woke up with the phrase “Have you ever seen a sunset?” floating through my sleep clogged mind. I don’t know where it came from, but I thought it would make a great poem title. Unfortunately, the title was the only part of the work that sleep bestowed upon me.
I came up with a poem to go with the title while I was at work. (I’m a bank teller in a small town so I have plenty of time to write poetry on scraps of paper and stuff them in my pockets.)
I read or heard once that a poet is someone who can present an everyday thing or occurence in a new light. I hope the light of my sunset is not distressing to anyone.
***
“Have You Ever Seen a Sunset?”
Have you ever seen a sunset
Curdling the evening sky?
The open wound of another
Day’s Death?
Multi-hued clouds putrifying
In the somber red glow
Of the glaring eye of the sun,
Its dire fires dimmed
By the cold, dark rim of the Earth?
*
Violet clouds, waves washing outward;
The sky dulled to the dim hues
Of an ever present star flecked
Night sky?
Like the dusty hem of the sun’s
Chilled cloak pulled close after,
The glow of the rosy sun falls
From the cold Earth
Unmasking Night, there all along.
