SHIFTING LIGHT

Thin sunshine—- this lunchtime over.

Construction workers in fluorescent orange vests and hats

Bustle and flow. We come and go.

The underside of a piled cumulous cloud darkeens.

Desire is more than thwarted will. I stand back.

Above it all that arching slender alder tree

leans away from dark roots into the pure blue, translucent leaves

pale, surprisingly bright in shifting light .

Stephen D’Evelyn

-Born Berkeley, CA, USA
-holds a BA in German Studies and Ancient and Medieval Culture at Brown University and a PhD in Medieval Latin literature from Cambridge
-has held teaching and research positions at Harvard Divinity School, the University of Notre Dame, Providence College,and the University of Bristol
-he and his wife Rachel have three children and live in Bristol, England
-Employed as casework coordinator and equality rep (disability) for the University and College Union branch at the University of Bristol