Lima’s Devouring Winter Dew

The mist of the pacific flows cool and fair—
On city streets that are far and near
With haunted blows, from Lima’s shadows.
Ah! Its pale magic mist now fills the air

Here I sit, at El Parquetito’s café
With a splendid delightful cup of coffee
As the phantom sun awakes and sweats
Trying to peek through Lima’s wintry cloak!

#1376 [7/5/2006] Written at EP Café, on a pale winter afternoon in Lima [July], Peru; dedicated to Rosa and Enrique, who had the pleasure to look up into this drab misty sky with me in Lima at 1:00 PM. Then after lunch, around 2:00 PM, the sun came out, but our lunch was now over. Wintertime in the central part of Lima is pale; with misty grays a lot of the time. And when the sun comes out, you got to bottle it, or run to it to enjoy the few hours you will have it. Winter’s in Lima are ‘Pale Dawns’ all day long, or can be. That is because you sit almost on top of the ocean. In farther out areas of Lima, the sun does come out. So today I was inspired to write about its bleakness, whereas, I normally write about all the positives; yet this can be taken as a positive, because when the sun does come, I parade around like a wild duck trying to suck up all the sun’s rays I can get.