By Manila Bay, July 7

For the morning, these colors: gray horizon;
brown skins rushing at the docks;
metallic Baltic blue of a bay, heaving
with the breath of an encouraging morning;
the black hulls of cargo ships at a distance
placidly afloat and without care;
violet full-grown leaves, fresher green leaves,
or in the orange color of dying leaves
trembling with a wind that strangely undulates;
a team of rowers in maroon shirts
negotiating with the murky, speckled waters;
and you, at the back of the boat, pushing the paddle
in your blinding, sun-bright yellow tank top.



Revised, August 10 2012.