PASTELS

My God, you rouse me in this dark hour
and bid me to express in
your behalf
the task is beyond me
How could I ever express as you do
with your unseen brush against a moving canvas
of the skyline using pastels
your passion unanchored in strokes of azure, teal
and lavender upon a tinted aquamarine
of distant waters

My verses lay humble in your portal
of serene skies where soft, white swans
waft wings in elegance over the shoulders
of snow-peaked mountains
and descend upon a mirror of lake
where daffodils frolic in white and yellow
against the golden flourish
of the afternoon sun

Even as you beckon the dusk
against a black and white sky
with a brush-stroke of trees scanning
the sleepy horizon, their shadows etched
in a silent mourning of hungover bats
awaiting the birth of a nightly moon
i stand with my palette of vibrant colors
impaled by the artistry of your pencil sketch
on the brow of a nascent night