As the Sun Sets

A Poem by Ben Taylor

In Michigan, just writing on an especially breath-taking sunset.

The horizon simmers with setting sun.
It hides silently behind the gently
Purpled clouds, sending brightly
Distinguishable shafts of brilliance
Into the backdrop sky that
Contentedly displays its subtle gradation of orange
To blue to purple
To black.
The outline of the sunset's cloudy
Curtain blisters with
The dissipation of daylight--
In fact, it flickers as if afflicted
With actual flame.
These dregs of shimmering sunlight
Glint from the surging lake,
The coruscation shifting instantly
From wave to wave
As they flee the horizon.
An enormous brush-stroke of
Billowing cloud stretches
From the coal of burning evening
To the blackness of the night,
A uniformly darkened pigment
Juxtaposed against the mixed colors
Of the now star-ridden sky
Behind it.
The brilliance of the sunset
Is no different than the beauty
That causes your eyes and your smile
To glow in that breathtaking
Way that never fails
To captivate me--
I am a lucky man
To be blessed with the company
Of one of the world's more
Unique beauties.