Venice masks

Thursday, 19 January 2023

Dawn is a fisherman - Raymond Barrow

Dawn is a fisherman, his harpoon of light
Poised for the throw—so swiftly morning comes:
The darkness squats upon the sleeping land
Like a flung cast-net and the black shapes of boats
Lie hunched like nestling turtles
On the flat calm of the sea.

Among the trees the houses peep it the stars
Blinking farewell, and half-awakened birds
Hurtle across the vista, some in the distance
Giving their voice self-criticized auditions.

Warning comes from the cocks, their necks distended
Like city trumpeters: and suddenly
Between the straggling fences of grey cloud
The sun, a barefoot boy, strides briskly up
The curved beach of the sky, flinging hies greetings
Warmly in all directions, laughingly saying
Up, up, the day is here! Another day is here!

Raymond Barrow (1920 - 2006) Belize
Source: Belizean Poets Belize National Library Service, date unknown but possibly 1977

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