Uilenkraalmond Poem by Charl JF Cilliers

I

SUNRISE

A blink
of sea-rise and the first
light, dim
as the mildest intimations
of surprise.

Unshadowing
from the darkness,
faintnesses emerge,
would materialise
if they lost their lack
of definition,
had shape
or size.
A drop of
light falls
into the huge pond:
ripples of sunrise widen in our eyes.

II

RIVER'S END

The lagoon shrinks
river-thin
in the tide-receding light.

In dune-fraying
wind clumps of grasses
bend,
clutch sand-helplessly.

Down the steepness
of air a concordenosed
tern, swinging
low, crumples
in sunlight and falls.

The tide is out.

The shallows have shrunk away:
beneath the earth
something is sucking them dry.

Distant prawn pumps are popping:
small seabird
specks swarm
over the sodden carcass of the land.