that delicate blue

 that delicate blue

of the salt bag that used to be in a crisp packet

the drippings from the blue-bag that mum whitened shirts with 

a late summer lobelia going slowly over

the blue gap in a dark sky moving east

tales from the willow pattern plate at high tea

the eyes of an imagined lover beneath blonde hair

the pale blue pallor of a bee-drained lavender bush

or the coy blue of a sage flower in the corner of a garden

or the coy blue of a rosemary flower in the corner of a garden

or the coy blue of this poem like the best tea towel 

the band on a rower’s boater hot in the sunshine

the unblink of a carp’s scales in a turning 

illusive as a blue shadow in a dazzling gown

the pale blue of the word delicate in a sad parting

that delicate blue

just after the sun sets

in a baby’s eyes

that delicate blue