A shift in the wind

You know it's coming --
a shift in the wind,
a reversal of tide,
a long-awaited boat
that will bring you something
or someone new
or carry you to some new place.
Anticipation rises:
I see it in the lift of your chin,
the way you clutch your coat,
the rapid rise and fall of your chest:
For each passenger on this boat,
a new beginning.
Though some things never seem to change --
this building,
that ferry,


the water lapping at the pier --
I see the colors have begun
to make their nightly transition
from blue to black
from white to gold.
And so it begins,
the darkness that will pull us through to dawn.

* * *