Cloudwatchers

It was quite surprising,
minding our own business
to see that stony blue sky,

a rolling punch from heaven in the eye

over old Vancouver;
complacent, beach-girdled,
beautiful wench of a city,
disdainful of gods,
sealed in a silence permanent 
of pleasure and tranquillity.

We dared to think
some other mind than ours was meant, 

or that we could be bent 
to see some indication of the hour
or perhaps a personal sign,
in the awful whiteness 
of that exploding firmament.