Arctic Dawn


faint first light

on eastern skyline

pale glow rising

under indigo –

still firmament

with crescent moon

turns iridescent

peach and pink and blue


snow banked on road

ploughed clear on pack-ice

dry brown furrows

slushed by vehicle tyres

headlights tail-lights

glittering white and red –

man-made stir in

landscape frozen dead


pastel tint

sub-zero spangle

diamond-glinting

sun on icicle –

dusk at daybreak

violet rose and gold

soft-toned display

ferocious burning cold


exquisite frost-formed

arctic dawn –

human eye looks on

ignored or scorned

late low and transient

November sun –

colouring calmly

slumbering sinking gone