Passing headlights cast a leafy shadow
that suddenly appears, then moves, then crawls,
finally to fade and disappear,
swallowed up by darkened bedroom walls.
This gift of fluid grace and beauty yet
contains an element of care and pain,
an underlying frisson of regret
that, ultimately, visions can’t remain.
With time, by some rare alchemy, that care
becomes a living thing one can’t forget:
A phantom moment only gaining strength
by vanishing into the thinnest air.
