Elegancy from darkness born

Janet shuffles towards me
I glance at her swollen ankles  
as she pours, oily black  
spoon standing coffee  
and gives me a minute  
to decide.  

The dog-eared menu is stained  
with rings from Tekapo's basin.  
I take a sip of the table top view,  
wading out from the shoreline  
to float on the thin-air of darkness  
back-lit between, sugared southern alps.  
 
My mouth fills with fresh melt-waters  
as the sun quenches  over grilled Angus,  
butter cooked potatoes, glisten  
like duck stones in fading lakeside pools.  
 
Janet looms over me, chewing gum.  
Have you chosen yet? her pencil resting  
on the manila carbon-copy pad.  
 
I point at the Soup of the Moment  
and she leaves me lakeside
my colours to be absorbed
as the bright eye of daylight closes.