I don’t recall ever reading this. It seems like a straight nature observation at first, but on rereading I think there is some subtext, something I’m missing, though I can’t quite put my finger on precisely what it’s trying to tell me. The lines comparing the scenery in twilight to a hopefully made painting that now hangs on doorless wall, beg to be investigated. It’s either unintentional and oddly placed imagery that side tracks a nature poem, or it’s intentionally there to hint at something else. Why else would a painting and a doorless wall show up in a nature poem? Isn’t it usually a painting that portrays a nature scene and not the nature scene portraying a painting? And the word flush brings to mind--flush against something--a wall perhaps? So, maybe the scene with the quail is the painting--how else could the speaker see the trace of blue, the light has already faded to the point where colors have become indistinguishable. I don’t understand the ending. The words tug at each other. Here vs. gone--lingers vs. vanishes. It a puzzling poem that leaves me wanting more explanation.
Donna
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