dye · from indigofera tinctoria, the long vat

indigo

nine o'clock at the harbour. the sea when there is still some light in the sky but not enough to swim by. the inside of a closed eye after staring at the moon.

indigo is the colour of vigil, of the long waiting. it stains the hands of whoever works with it; the dye sets in slow and never quite comes out. you find it on the inside of an old coat, on the cover of a ledger in library, on the deep edge of twilight.

not midnight. midnight is darker. indigo is the hour before.