Yezzi, "Red Shift"

What had seemed till recently as clear as day

darkens now, beaten to violet breakers,

whose troughs' deep indigos amaze all hands,

befogging, separatist as ampersands

or the dotted line land divides along.

No bearings in this blue, no channel gong

to hark us back from our wrong turn, no scenes

of harbor, of islands wood-smoked and greening.

Still, in light of all that we've remarked

of sudden weather and the yellow stars,

best to batten down, stand watch for signs

of orange at evening, or a slackening in the lines,

trusting that this time of red alert might ease

its frequency, back in pacific seas.

David Yezzi