Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Mar 1, Iyengar III

Apologies, Lawrence, you rocked! 1919-2021

The Changing Light

' The changing light at San Francisco

is none of your East Coast light

none of your

pearly

light of Paris

The light of San Francisco

is a sea light

an

island light

And the light of fog

blanketing the hills

drifting in at night

through the Golden Gate

to lie on the

city at dawn

And then the halcyon late mornings

after the fog burns off

and the sun paints white houses

with the sea

light of Greece

with sharp clean shadows

making the town look

like

it had just been

painted

But the wind comes up at four o'clock

sweeping the

hills

And then the veil of light of early evening

And then another scrim

when the new night fog

floats in

And in that vale of light

the city drifts

anchorless

upon the ocean