Poem: To Watch the Sunset

To Watch the Sunset

To watch the sunset

in a different part of the world

for the first time

is to see new colors,

shapes unknown before,

feelings new within your being,

youth renewed.

Step away from your own life

for awhile,

feel the intensity of living

and shake off the January frost

of routine becoming monotony.

A sunset on a prairie lake in Minnesota,

a change of the guard in Ottawa,

a little house on the South Dakota prairie,

an A frame in the Green Mountains of Vermont,

nestled in a deciduous forest

far removed from the Samaritan Mountains

of the desert of southern Idaho

and then to return and breathe 

the dry mountain sage as if

it were the first time.

January 2006

About This Poem:

I haven't posted on here this month, National Poetry Month, because I've been away in Hawaii being a beach bum. This poem, while not mentioning Hawaii or Kauai (where I was), touches on the importance of travel to me. So I wanted to share it here after my travels. The photo, while not a particularly beautiful sunset (though later it was) was from Poipu Beach where we were watching the return of the parakeets that roost in the palms there. So I hope this poem inspires you to take a trip, no matter how far or near.