Rusty Crimson

(Christmas Day, 1917)

The Five o'clock prairie sunset is a strong man going to sleep after a long day in a cornfield. 
  
The red dust of a rusty crimson is fixed with two fingers of lavender. A hook of smoke, a woman’s nose in charcoal and … nothing. 
  
The timberline turns in a cover of purple. A grain elevator humps a shoulder. One steel star whisks out a pointed fire. Moonlight comes on the stubble. 
  
“Jesus in an Illinois barn early this morning, the baby Jesus … in flannels …”