Afternoon Glow

It's the magic hour
when the day yawns wide
after a nap between long shadows.
A tide of translucent orange
seeps out from under the sculpture studio
while it waits for imagination to stir.

If you aren't paying attention
you will miss it,
the way you forget to look for
the stand of deer peering curiously at you
from the side of the road
as you speed by on your way to
a place you will forget by tomorrow.
If you notice, you would see an
elixir of apricot, blended with mellow peach,
and tangerine marshmallows -
the glow of afternoon,
a cousin to the sunset the way
the moon tethers to the Earth.

She carries magic with her,
wears it like a dress covered with
a garden of roses -
petals heavy with the scent of autumn rain.
Her glow begins from interior places
spreading out to touch
all who are close by,
leaks out the far corners of the house
with the buttery, emulsified fragrance
of a well-seasoned kitchen.

The quiet magic of late afternoon,
the washes of colored light painted
by kindly gestures
reaching out to a wanting world,
let it spread out like welcome assurance
to take the chill off of anxious hesitation.
Help us to remember that the
apricot, tangerine and peaches of glowing
hearts ripened in late afternoon,
can do more to warm cold fixations
than the rush of self-appointed speed
towards the place
we will have forgotten by tomorrow.