The Gateway

I sit beside the pool
Camera on tripod
Watching the light change
From sunset, to dusk, to night

On a calm, breezeless evening
Not even a shimmer on the reflecting pond
My mind drifts
With the passing of time

A gateway for explorers
Then settlers
Then migrants
Then refugees

And now I
A traveler
No more than that
Trying to piece it all together

A gateway for one culture
To expand and grow

An ingress to another
Invasion, decimation
But not yet dead
Resurgent

Another click of the shutter

As the sky goes
From blue
To pink
To vivid fuschia
Violet and cobalt

To jet black
Stars in hiding
From city lights
The sky closes to
The gateway