nitey nite
Justby Alan Shapiroafter the downpour, in the early evening,late sunlight glinting off the raindrops slidingdown the broad backs of the redbud leavesbeside the porch, beyond the railing, each leafbending and springing back and bending againbeneath the dripping,between existences,ecstatic, the souls grow mischievous, they break ranks,swerve from the rigid V's of their migration,their iron destinies, down to the leavesthey flutter in among, rising and settling,bodiless, but pretending to have bodies,their weightlessness more weightless for the ruse,their freedom freer, their as-ifs nearly not,until the night falls like an order andthey rise on one vast wing that darkens downthe endless flyways into other bodies.Nothing will make you less afraid.

khumar
Title: In the Mountains Artist: Albert Bierstadt