Genesis

                         after Claude Monet: Morning Haze:

                              The Ice Floe, 1894

Before
another day’s blue-violet
tinges the sky, before
cadmium orange
breaks through,
I’d like to gather haze—
only the merest of it
which reminds us someone
is arriving, leaving, or
just passing through.
I’d fold that haze into thirds,
slip it in a lead-white envelope,
address it to God—
and you—with the message:
"Mix a fresh palette.
Touch brush to paper.
Let colors follow
water. And let’s begin
the beginning
again."