Mary Evans - Poems and Pictures

Picture No. 10098616, Mary Evans Picture Library

Evening in Dakar
by Sarah Lawson

The flame trees are banked up
for the coming night;
they smoulder in the dark
until they fade from sight.

The palm fronds comb
the greying sky until the comb
fades into the hair;
other swaying branches
seem soluble in air.

Breezes interrogate the nameless trees;
the sky darkens by degrees.
Birds are shooting stars,
black on black,
marshalling the wind
until the sun comes back.

Sarah Lawson is a poet and translator. Born in Indianapolis in 1943, she has spent most of her adult life in London. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and in her collections Below the Surface and All the Tea in China. She has published three poetry pamphlets with Hearing Eye: Down Where the Willow Is Washing Her Hair, Friends in the Country and Twelve Scenes of Malta, and a collection of haiku, The Wisteriaâ€™s Children. In prose she has published A Fado for my Mother, and a memoir about Poland, The Ripple Effect. She has translated works from French, Spanish and Dutch, and is probably the only person to have translated both Christine de Pisan and Jacques PrÃ©vert. Her play, Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, was performed at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre. Her latest translation from French is the story of a Bengali girl who refused to get married at the age of 11, The Strength to Say No by Rekha Kalindi. Other recent works are a novel, The Bohemian Pirate, and a collection of essays about Gone with the Wind, The GWTW Fortnight.

Contact name
Client Code
Contact email
Contact phone
Client Project Ref
Client P/O No
Staff notes

Collection name
Lightbox
Text
Thumbnail
COTW Link

Your Name
E-mail Address
Password
Confirm Password
Telephone
Email updates
Keep me logged in
Country of residence

Send to email:
Your name:
Your email address:
Lightbox title:
Your message (optional)

Picture No
Date
Description
Details
Source
Credit
Restrictions

Email/User ID
Password

Destination email
Lightbox Title

Save as: