Before the Sun Goes Lower

A pond.

A pavilion.

Red leaves.

Yellow leaves.

Among them

there was still some green.

I

set down one color

and looked again.

The leaf beside it

was a slightly different color.

I painted the pillars,

I painted the eaves.

In the water

the same roof

hung upside down.

I moved the brush

lower.

A leaf

fell on the water.

A small ripple

passed the tip of the eaves in the water.

The pillars too

wavered a moment.

I

watched the water,

brush in hand.

When the ripple settled

the eaves came back.

Meanwhile

the sun had gone lower.

It was not

the same red light.

Before the sun went lower still

I washed the brush

and took up new color.

On the roof in the water

I set down

a little of that red.