Evening Palette

by Lori Hershberger

The mountain swallowed the sun tonight
Tugged it down from the sooty sky,
Into the smoky red of horizon’s shade
And west into the shadows of Burma.

And for a moment there was a fire in the town,
Titian on the water, low and light
Between the sandy banks of the Yuam River
Rain-thirsty in the smoggy gloaming.

Then the sun slipped into the mountain’s pocket
And all was gray again, until the kindly dusk
Purpled the world and wrapped my town in its arms
And with an indigo lullaby, rocked her to sleep.

Lori Hershberger lives in Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand, where she teaches EFL and dreams of traveling across the Salawin River into Burma. You can find her book, Dustbeams, on Amazon.

Photography by Kenneth Godoy