Summer Sunset

Poet-in-Residence, sitting comfortably in front of a waterside bar, tried to capture a summer sunset in Venice. It is indeed a special sight. The painter Turner would sometimes venture into the tidal lagoon, a gondolier at the helm, to capture the scene. Not so easy for him in his rocking boat!

Summer Sunset

The sky is turning salmon pink
and gold
and three shades of blue
and several shades of white
and smoky grey
at the shrinking end of
another sizzling summer's day
now a dying day
reflected in the long windows
of sunlit rooms
whose curtained interiors
are now growing dim;
witness a purplish cast,
like a bruise, strike
upon the horizon
and pink turn to redder hue
and gold to butter yellow.
In the west the colours sharpen up
as the last golden windowpane
blinks out.

c) Gwilym Williams