Messenger photo by Joe Duty

A lone, dark tree trunk protrudes from the water like the broken periscope of a torpedoed sinking submarine, or the finger of a drowning giant’s final grasp at life and air above. The dead, soft-splintered trunk stands as a lost fragment of the forest clustered on the distant shore.

Strange scene in a state stricken with drought. Death in austere beauty. Rippling cool blue smoothes to hibiscus violet. A strict reproduction of nature’s spectrum. And the sun spills a final splash of impassioned violence on the western sky.

Our roaming photographer recently captured this sunset over Lake Palestine in east Texas. The colors captivate the eye. The shadowed trunk serves as a point of focus for the photograph.