It happens surprisingly fast,
the way your shadow leaves you.
All day you’ve been linked by
the light, but now that darkness
gathers the world in a great black tide,
your shadow joins
the sea of all other shadows.
If you stand here long enough,
you, too, will forget your lines
and merge with the tall grass and
old trees, with the crows and the
flooding river—all these pieces
of the world that daylight has broken
into objects of singular loneliness.
It happens surprisingly fast, the drawing in
of your shadow, and standing
in the field, you become the field,
and standing in the night, you
are gathered by night. Invisible
birds sing to the memory of light
but then even those separate songs fade,
tiny drops of ink in an infinite spilling.
I like this one bunches, the idea of losing one’s shadow is so appealing at the start, but what you do with that loss throughout the poem is fabulous. The “joining” is perfect.
Here’s a favorite, but all of the poem rings with such a resonance.
“now that darkness
gathers the world in a great black tide,
your shadow leaves you to join
the sea of all other shadows…
One thing: that closing line is good, but it would be great without the “seems to be”, as in
“but then even those separate songs fade
into the one big silence that always waits.
I love this poem. May even want it to end with two more words to follow “seems to be waiting — with you.”
Because the poem has drawn me in so much.
Or, is ” with you” implied and not needed?
I love the way the poet is so observant of the world around her. Rings to truly.
Whatever. Such a delicious poem. Thank you.
stunning poem…
Thanks Ashley … It was such a revelation somehow that night, I ran around chasing the sun line to watch my shadow disappear over and over and over …