Movement self-illuminates
The blonde woman dances
from the sidewalk
Two children follow her in the dark,
part of her
She is smiling—
she is there for too long,
circled by her toddlers,
softly radiating,
for it to be otherwise.
Her form smiles so wide.
A flick of lightning
Light-up shoes
who is she
to me?
I see myself out there
hair sopping
feet bare—he feels more joy than he has in weeks;
why has he not
walked barefoot on stormy pavement
in so long???
years of thought wasted, confounded,
by his feet,
sodden, roughened, dirtying—
and she, too, is dancing.
He turns, watching, feeling her with him,
the pavement splashing under his feet,
as she laughs with the rain
he feels more joy than he has
corporeal, inflexible light
cold and beautiful
more compelling than life