The Modesty of Light

Light enough to see the cold in the sky,

the east with that mix of pink-blue

clouds that may be the clouds

of cold

           the color beyond category,

the clarity chilling outside and in.

How can such a scene  be seen

without seeing, at least somewhat,

inside ourselves?

                           We are dust and water

and air, blood -- that divine elixir

of life clearly points emphatically 

here, emphatically there.

                                    And now a little

more light arises, breaks, shows

not yet shinning

                         perhaps, as we mark atime,

an hour before the sun fully shows

itself.

         That modesty of light I think about often.

-Byron Hoot