Olive Trees 1889 – National Gallery of Scotland

You stand on a slope, enclosed 
by curlicues of verdigris. 

The sun is concealed. Writhing trees hold 
hands in the foreground.

A tree further up sits like a carved cup,
or the round body of a Provençal sweetheart. 

Flickering marks assert life -
yet the sky is pallid, 

asylum grey. Tomorrow, perhaps, 
the sun will ignite in the distance.