The View From the Window

'Like a painting it is set before one,
But less brittle, ageless, these colours
Are renewed daily with variations
Of light and distance that no painter
Achieves or suggests.
Then there is movement,
Change, as slowly the cloud bruises
Are healed by sunlight, or snow caps
A black mood, but gold at evening
To cheer the heart'

These lines from A View from the Window by R. S. Thomas perfectly describe the power of this familiar and cherished view.