Sylvia Collins Poems

The Sea Walk

Quicksilver sea flashes

hurts my eyes

shift 

to kelp covered rocks

Teeming tide pools

memories

Of other oceans

Others shores

On the sea walk

joggers, families, lovers

stroll

Brilliant flowers, palms and sea grass

Pebbled beaches

Grey and weathered driftwood logs

for water watching.

Westward

through the sun’s haze

the Island mountains rise grey blue

Their distant heights

Indistinguishable

from sky cloud ribbons

wreathed purple gold

at sunset

At my back

conifer clad mountains

merge

Wilderness joins city abruptly

down the North Shore's steep hills

While overhead

Ravens ride air currents.

© Sylvia Collins

Water Watching

Out in the inlet

 Cargo ships with rust red keels

sedately wait

Feisty tugs carve duck V wakes

past Stanley Park

Yellow and bluebox laden

merchant vessels

plough towards the open sea

Raucous cries from seagulls

announcing ‘Coral Princess’ 

cruising shore close

multi-decked and stately

bound for iceberg glory

in Alaska.

Suddenly

Rain falling straight and hard

City and ships vanish

to reappear a minute later

The curtain rises

on sun flecked

white capped waters

Rhododendrons and Azaleas

brilliant pink and showy at the shoreline

as the cars swish past on Bellevue.

© Sylvia Collins

Symphony of Fire

Roman candles shower light

in concert with the violins

Catherine wheels spinning

spinning

Rockets explode

cymbals clash

Brilliant colour

Bright white light

illuminate the night

eye dazzling dancing flares

mirror imaged in the water

This vivid musical display in July

far removed

from January’s silent grey

when Toronto's Island ferries

slice through ice.

© Sylvia Collins
Night's Inception

We watch together you and I

As daytime fades at cocktail hour

When azure sky turns crimson red

It  never  fails to overpower 

The colour palette slowly morphs

To gaudy hues that hurt the eyes

Blanketed in thought we stand

At the dying sun‘s demise

Lakes and oceans turn to blood

With sky as if in celebration

A last hurrah to entertain

A pyrotechnic adoration

Then another show is staged

As water picks up silver streamers

Black and white shades of night

Softer quieter made for dreamers.

© Sylvia Collins