The Changing Light

By Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The changing light
            at San Francisco
    is none of your East Coast light
            none of your
                    pearly light of Paris

The light of San Francisco
            is a sea light
                    an island light
And the light of fog
                blanketing the hills

        drifting in at night
              through the Golden Gate

                    to lie on the city at dawn
And then the halcyon late mornings
          after the fog burns off
                and the sun paints white houses
                      with the sea light of Greece
          with sharp clean shadows 

                making the town look like
                      it had just been painted

But the wind comes up at four o’clock
                  sweeping the hills

And then the veil of light of early evening

And then another scrim
              when the new night fog
                        floats in
And in that vale of light
                the city drifts
                      anchorless upon the ocean

The poet is 101 years old, his words will hopefully last as long as the light. My camera, on the other hand, will not last that long, courtesy of the fog….

SFJAZZ.org presented Zakir Hussain & Dave Holland on October 20th, 2017, in SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium, here performing “Finding the Light.”