PAPER LANTERNS
I almost didn’t notice
the paper lanterns,
glowing like deep sea creatures
at bottom of the canyon.
Too, I almost missed the sound
of children playing,
while parents sipped wine,
glasses chiming
in the still-hot evening breeze.
My gaze steadied
on the perfect half moon,
her shadow side visible,
as the earth
kindly reflected back
her lunar glory.
And the purple sky
melted into the ocean,
pitching the dark into night.
(c) Amanda Smith July 2011
(This was my first poem ever published. I wrote it while looking at the pacific ocean on a perfect summer night a few days before my life truly began, although at that point I didn’t know it hadn’t.)


OMG! I panicked big time when I lost the link to your post. One poem and you had me at lanterns. If that was your first, I want to read your last and many, many years in between. I love that poem, AJ!
Beautiful!