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You're never too old to jump at shadows. |
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Around two, the clouds broke And the moon came out. It was so bright it painted the grass silver, The lake and trees black And made me think I had left the porch light on Again. I tried to see the moon, Spurred by some primal longing; Peeped through all the windows, Spent long moments straining over the kitchen sink Head resting on the pine sill Thinking If only I could find a single inch more If only If only No avail. I stepped out onto the roof through an upstairs window Bare foot and bare-chested Into the smell of snow, And the promise of winter, Let the cold trace knives down my arms, My breath mingling with the last of the smoke from the stove. The moon was high and full beside Orion So bright it almost hurt the eyes. The air was absolutely still No sound but my own breath, And the occasional popping of the wood stove. As the long moments stretched and dripped away into the night I found myself glancing down Across the silver grass The bare black trees The obsidian lake Expecting Something I don’t know what But the cold moon Put strange things to mind Werewolves And Wyld Hunts And worse. I would not have been shocked to hear The baying of red-eared hounds The temperamental snorts of snow-white horses Mounted by wintry laughter Or the waters swirling gently About something more ominous still. Nor to see dark shapes crouched among the branches Watching back With eyes of ochre and crimson and viridian. Not on a night like tonight. I am not a religious man, But I’ve walked some long, strange roads And heard too many stories To scoff at these things. I touched the iron spiral at my throat Just in case And muttered something reverent. As I turned to go in Beginning, finally, to shiver I saw silent headlights through the pines Whisking down the road Faster than most. I wondered briefly Who the lights belonged to And where they were going so fast At this hour. I closed the window behind me On the all the awful quiet. Tomorrow, I would laugh at all of this. After a moment’s consideration I locked it. |
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