SHADOWS

A Poem by Penny Lane

I was walking the trail, watching as my shadow stretched

when suddenly it occurred to me, I had been looking down too long.

Look around! Look up!

And what caught my eye was a lonesome bird, soaring sweetly

small, effortless circles, wings outstretched and unmoving.

Testing its ability to stay in one place--

an impossibility for a bird in flight.

Yet it continued, pleasantly teasing itself,

with no direction, no urgency, no flock.

I stopped to watch until it was out of my sight, for time was uninteresting.

I yearned violently, and to my surprise, for the bird to come to me, to share in recognition

that although there was undeniable life in the breeze and the swaying brush,

we were the only blood-filled bodies, two creatures in a moment of peace

and the urge to validate that connection selfishly overwhelmed me

until, I found, it was our very solitude that presently connected us.

With every bittersweet blink, my eyes strained to find

its silhouette becoming a wiry smudge in the untouched sky

disappearing with every turn on its round path.

Before I could offer some kind of gesture, it was lost.

My stride commenced, my physical shadow again my companion, haunting but welcome

until civilization made itself known again, machine sounds replacing nature’s hush.

Somewhere above, the bird looks down but is deaf to it all

or maybe it too looks up.

© 2013 Penny Lane

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Reviews

Rob Santana

Beautifully written. I love the imagery. Good job.

Posted 10 Years Ago

Christoph

Layered in all of that imagery is a really succinct portrayal of a mood, and I've always thought that the ability to express a mood is the most important thing any writer can do. It's the kind of thing where people will struggle and say there are no words, but you've gone and written them down.

Posted 10 Years Ago

Manuel Samo

A good piece to read. It flows with a remarkable elegance and picturesque description of solitude. I relish your description of time, as precious and valuable as it is, as uninteresting. Your use of the oxymoron- bittersweet- exacts and portrays a vivid picture of what ensues between the lonely duo.
Overall, it was well written. I really enjoyed it.