Sooner or later I guess most writers of poetry embrace the cliches. And as I'd already written a poem about sunrise, I decided to have a bash at a poem on sunset. As I confessed at the time of posting it to rap, I knew it was a cliched topic, but I enjoyed myself anyway.
I seem to recall writing this while sitting in the passenger seat, on a car trip from Canberra down to the Gippsland (I think?) or maybe we were going to Eden. I'm not too sure. I do remember balancing the notepad on my lap and I was definitely not driving the car at the time!!!!
Sunset
Slow tears trickle down the aging face.
His eternal grief has never been so painful.
He shivers, dreading the hours left to him.
Sans hope, sans light.
Suddenly, she is there.
Whirling, spinning, dancing.
Brilliant flashes of red, orange and gold,
her varicoloured draperies brushing his skin.
The music of her laughter echoes in his ears.
Lighthearted she, soon to be rid of her daily burden.
Carelessly, callously, she teases him.
Circling ever close, twisting out of reach.
He, unable to respond, watches helplessly.
Her wild dance reaches its climax.
She spins faster, faster, further, further.
She begins to shed her gaudy veiling.
Down, down, the colours plunge.
They are lost in his own darkness.
He cannot reach her, and she is fading.
Her voice, just a dying whisper.
Alone again, he waits.
The darkness creeps over him.
In the distance, he hears,
the faint, tinkling of her parting song.
Copyright, March 1990.
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