The red sky of nightfall

I returned west to the sunset

headed home towards the hills

of salmon-pink streaked horizon

towards the unreal reds of evening.

I tried to pick out the blush of lake

guided the boat by sheer skylight

towards the reed-lined sandy shore

into the shadows of wooded islands.

I rushed to moor by the bank,

tossed trout onto damp grass,

re-racked the rods by feeling

in the darkness of boathouse.

I moved before the blue of nightfall

triggered a tumbling in the dark-purple 

of a tunnelled rhododendron path home,  

emerging stars promising only a dim light.