we’d
run on down the basement for the light we’d lost
so
we could see to set the breakers right
and
get back to sleeping in the dark.
As
kids we gathered ‘round the flashlight
so
we wouldn’t have to face the black,
but
night still had a way of chasing color from our skin
and
driving thoughts of certain sight from mind
when
our eyes were wide and white.
Those
were summers all the lights went out
from
every bulb and socket strung out porches
to
every child’s bedroom lamp that burned.
And
that’s when all of us closed our eyes
to
ward the danger where it crept.
So
they'd leave us blinded in the silence as the AC's
ceased
up to leave me lying there in heat
with
the streetlights all gone blinked for breath—
(so
on those nights I soundly slept.)
They made light a treasure
for whoever could
lay eyes on it, and so
many claimed to find it
hidden in the night, but
few were given peace by it
because the shadows it cast
did creep and
stirred them savage in the
trees!
But you showed up in the
dark of my eyes,
in the red ember
taillights I remember,
from
this boy's fears and fantasies in every shadow
to where you stood out
there at ease.
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