Painted Sky

Painted Sky
By Robert McKay
© 2010 by Robert McKay

I saw colors like that, once,
When I painted them by numbers,
But not that clear,
Not over the whole spread of the sky.

As I came out the door
There was a light on the land,
Reflected down from the clouds,
Coming to them from a sun
Rising low over Tijeras Canyon.
That horizontal light,
Shining red through the atmosphere,
Turned salmon and rose
On the bottom of the clouds—
Clouds that formed a ceiling to the horizon,
Fluffy and soft and glowing in that marvelous light.

I painted that picture years and years ago,
Following the numbers—
A ship under sail beneath a sunset or a sunrise sky.
But there is no glory in paint and canvas
To match the natural glow
Of that newborn sun shining on the bottoms of the clouds.

23DEC10, 0839
220 Western Skies, ABQ