Shadow play

we adorn ourselves
in sunlight and shadow,
in the ephemerality of air.
all around us flow inspirations
for motifs, patterns and prints,
the finest of weavings.
as subtle as a breath
a cool sun dapples designs onto silk.
as light as a breeze
a fern-frond decorates stone.
we play at ombres chinoises:
touched by a momentary palm tree,
a temporary trellis,
a latticework sigh,
we linger in the stillness
of a summer afternoon,
where colour, line and texture
are as muted as memories
of Mediterranean idylls,
a bohemian poets daydream.
dozing in the wafting shade
of exotic opiate flowers,
we indulge in a nostalgic whiff
of Fitzgerald’s Riviera at it’s inspired height,
of Bowles’s Marrakech,
of a life of slow pleasures,
late nights, lazy mornings.
between the beginning of time
and the end of it,
we collect these dancing,
glancing moments
of sun-striped shadow-play
and live as sybarites.

BLOOM DECEMBER 2007