Sunset pause (haibun)

After enjoying a nice vegan dinner with my colleague the other night, I noticed the pink sky at the end of our street on our way back to work. I checked the time, and I had 8 minutes left before I had to get back to work on the phone lines. So I rushed up the elevator to the ninth floor, wobbled up the 20 steps that lead to the rooftop and witnessed another amazing concert of pastels shimmering in the sky.

I sat in awe silently for a moment. I knew I would not capture this perfection with my camera. And then I started playing with the settings. I tried “sunset” first, then “beauty” and lastly just natural setting…zooming now and then until I saw a plan to my right flying quickly just above the sun setting. I clicked a few times to capture this because usually planes come out fuzzy but not this time. I was quite pleased.

I had three minutes left and knew I had to run down to get to work on time and missed that last dip below the skyline…where you no longer see any sign of the sun. Then for another five to ten minutes the changing of colours, shades getting darker and more stunning. Oh, well, another time…in a few weeks time, my dinner break will coincide with a complete sunset…yes, the days will be shortening more and more…do not want to think of that yet.

day`s end

watercolours brush the sky

with bated breath

day`s end

plane crosses shimmering sky

sun bows

daylight ends

sun dips beneath the skyline

back to work.

(c) Clr -Tournesol