Skirting The Penumbra Poem by Fraser Mackay

the prickly spring sun
dips below the verandah
Julie moves with her books and water
to the shade in the corner

our words quietly skirt
the penumbra of our lives
float out to the cherry orchard
caress the ancient trunks

those wearied disciples
the scant sap barely enough
to relieve their burden of limbs
bronze-wings at the dam

the evening turns pink and red
fat cloud galleons lumber in
fill the horizon, their fiery sails
ignite the western sky.