(14 lines)
Easing himself between the shadows, he’s little
more than a shadow himself, a small strange being
prancing on his goat legs. It would be simpler to
dismiss him as a momentary quirk of the eyes that
allowed this visual trick to take place. But it seems
much too cruel to end this hallucination, and not
let it become that rare occasion when figments of
fancy diffuse reality’s boundaries and drop in
uninvited to explore a summer park or garden.
A faun leaping between the flowers and pausing
to lick the dew on the roses ought to be reason
enough to wish it would be a better morning if
you could offer this otherworldly delusion a
bowl of cool clear water before he melts away.
M.C. Aster
M. C. Aster was born in Yugoslavia, a country that no longer exists, and has lived on three continents. Aster’s poems appear in The Gateway Review, Last Stanza Poetry Journal, Cephalopod Anthology, and many others. Pushcart nominee Aster lives in Southern California and fosters two endangered Mojave Desert tortoises.