Poem – John Allison

Out of the Blue

Each year the ocean seems
more blue, the gong of light
upon the eyes more resonant

You walk the hillside tracks
above the sea, and everywhere
the world becomes translucent

blue, a music that’s a mirror
for your consciousness, so
many voices shadowing light

cerulean and azure, tonality
deepening through ultramarine
sinking into the indigo of night

That “wine-dark sea”! But then
the ancient Greeks were only
just learning what it is to see

blue fire on kingfishers’ wings
cornflowers in the lover’s field
or lessons found in lapis lazuli

For blue is learnt. It’s there
(there!) waiting to be perceived
the sky and sea, and in between

more blue than ever has been
seen by you before. More blue
it seems, through being seen

 

John Allison

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