I drive to the Domaine du Dattier racing time.
I find a deserted spot overlooking a calanque, an old tower, and a clear view to the islands off the coast and park the car.
I must say good bye to the sun.
I want to connect to everything that is beautiful and life giving.
I need to feel this moment.
So I am staying to watch the sun go down.
I have to face a coming darkness.
I feel the loss already.
There is always more to the solstice than just the shortest day…
The Med wears her mourning early.
In matte pewter grey she links her cliffs
To islands in the distance.
Billows ring the sky on the horizon
And spread upwards slowly
Moving closer to shore
In a sad indigo light.
She watches him, her embattled sun,
Sink half-way below the foggy bank
Split and tear on his way down.
He burns.
Old angers flash
Smolder and singe attending clouds.
The sea barely ripples
Stands still, wishes time away.
Hanging on to the last rays
Of her forever love
She can neither move nor wave.
The islands become shadows.
The mountainside flattens
Loses its crags and streambeds
Houses fade, bleak and soulless.
He is going down fast now
And reaches for her one last time.
He pours a long, thin river of gold,
The life line of his love.
She feels it sear her skin,
And holds it unblinking.
Then he is gone.
Silence hangs in a bloody sky
Until a choked cry breaks it.
Melusine’s wails run through the woods
Tumble into the leaded sea.
The Med silently tends her grief
As a far-off lighthouse comes to life.
unbuttoned or undone 
AnElephant weeps for the beauty of this lost love.
Magnifique.
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Merci UnElephant.
Don’t weep, it’s only a story. But Melusine was too flawed.
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Short days, long days, tight orbits, wide orbits… It’s all fun on Spaceship Earth 🙂
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Well, yeah, The facts just the facts ma’am.
True, but no poetry in it at all.
Solstice watch is my tradition. Blame my ancestors 😉
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I don’t think I have ever read a description of a sunset so wonderfully rendered. I was reminded of the Titans and Olympians of Greek mythology and the rendering of their lives in the natural world and interplay with humanity. The nod to Melusine locked the magic of folklore into the sunset you so beautifully describe. There is no doubt in my mind when we gazed on such sights those many thousand years before that it was absolute proof of the Gods and Goddesses that ruled our domain with the whim of every emotion.
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Thank you Dan. You are right of course. In a world where the Mediterranean and the sun, dispalying human traits and attitudes, speak to each other, love, sulk and get angry, we are back in mythology territory. That taps into something old and, I hope, makes the natural world, no longer allien, “other”, but part of what we are, interconnected.
sometimes, being connected to nature is the only comfort there is.
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I feel this with every neuron left in my often short circuited mind. I have stood in many places where few humans go and took in a glorious view of our world. It is there I felt the connection so strong, I felt a part of it, not just as an observer. Your poem, written of your own moment living in that sunset teleported me back to those long past moments of stunning beauty in our natural world. A great start to a new year 🙂 (I can’t wait for your book of poems to be published) 🙂
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I hope it is a great start. That is the beauty of cycles isn’t it? The end is also a beginning.
I am grateful and touched by your enthusiasm and support 🙂
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C’est si bon, mon cheri’…c’est magnifique. 🙂
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Merci Paul. I am glad you liked that little story.
Tu es très gentil. 🙂
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BEautiful!!!
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Thank you Suze. Always glad to make you happy!
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Is this where you raced to? http://www.panoramio.com/photo/79085220
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Yes it is! I took the pictures about 50 feet from that pillar(my back to it).
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I almost feel as if I was there.-)
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Cool! I think that the cloudwatcher in you would have a ball in these parts. 🙂
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Well, now that I’ve developed an interest in soccer, I’ve decided to move to Barcelona to watch Messi when I win a big lottery. That’s practically next door, right?
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Oh yes! About 7 hours drive. And I have a spare room for you too, so give a holler when you get there, OK?
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Okay. Have you cleared it with your sprites? They might not like my big feet clomping around their garden.-)
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On it!
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Beautiful, tearful words…so tangible and affecting…”He pours a long, thin river of gold,
The life line of his love.” How vividly I can see the sprawling Med, in all her subdued stillness, in the pain of dying light- an early death is the solstice sunset. What doleful beauty…”Silence hangs in a bloody sky
Until a choked cry breaks it.
Melusine’s wails run through the woods
Tumble into the leaded sea.” Just gorgeous. Enchanting, enthralling words, indeed, and fabulous image, so tranquil and resplendent. I could just live in this moment.
Superb!!! Ecstatic cheers,
smiling toad
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I am overwhelmed by your praise and I feel a bit tongued-tied or word-tied. I am grateful for it and take a bow, very glad in my heart that I was able to convey some of the magic experienced here in and around Medville where so much of the past intersects the present in a rather small geography and creates wonder.
At any rate, I am very glad that you enjoyed the image and the emotions.
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Beautiful. I am green. May I reblog?
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I am glad you like it. Yes, of course you may reblog. Thank you.
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Many thanks. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Tales of Unwise Paths.
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Words to rival the sunset in paradise. Sigh for beauty.
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