borrowed lights

 

the ashen sky is falling

land exhales fumes and smoke

shadows widen, rehearsing

what comes next -

or so it seems

in the rearview mirror

my hands, empty bowls

my body, battlefield

storm-tested terrain

my feet, sore from stone-shard ground

or so it seems

in the rearview mirror

but here, right now

winter sun holds 

bare maples stand, listening

snow hushes what survives

i am here, attending

not to the dimming of borrowed lights,

but to the spark i carry-

fire struck from pen and paper,

time marked without

vines of regret

let us spring

toward the pale tree

where brightness still gathers

                              Inspired by:   Extinction of Useless Lights

                                             by Yves Tanguy

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight, our last one for the year 2025.  Thank you for all your visits and comments.  See you in January 5, 2026.