Inspired by the bay and its changing light at night

LUNAR BENEDICTION

The first gleanings from the moon

Dance like silver dollars

On the liquefaction of the bay

Leaded with coming night.


The last pink song of the sun

Has flickered from the cumulus

Piling cotton balls softly

Upon the slice of the horizon.


Smoky whiffs with filament tendrils

Filter by the zinc disk

Shaded, graded with seas

Of the fertile imagination.


The waterfowl have settled

In the green hair of the rookery

Islands where dusky birds seek

Refuge from the expiring day.


The night, combed by the wind,

Flairs its deep shadows

And draws the willing moon

Into its fond embrace.


Let us pray: O Luna,

Shining echo of the sun,

Guide the night in its dark path

For lovers and other miscreants.


May 1984



This poem was inspired by the view of the bay from my balcony and was published in City Magic, 1987.  Biscayne Bay had become famous a few years earlier when the artist Christo wrapped its islands around with pink fabric.  His work was called Surrounded Islands. See the following: