Glass Pavilion

About this piece

A glass pavilion in the desert as the day goes: the sky falls to blue hour, the house lights come on, and the pool lights up turquoise from under the water.

Nothing in it moves but the light and the water. The sky goes first, from the top down, through violet to a last warm band on the ridge; the land dims after it; then the lamps come on behind the glass and their light spreads onto the soffit, the deck and the water; then the pool’s own lamps come on under the surface, turquoise shimmering across it. The brightest stars show last. The pool’s surface ripples all the while, bending the house’s reflection.

It runs on its own: afternoon to twilight and back again, a pause at each, over and over.