( _____ )

shadows shift
the slow-steady metronome
east to west
play
of
light
restlessness rising as birds chatter incessantly
blue jay to starling to wren
and back again
breeze to branches greening
waking
gray to less-gray
not blue
not today
but a luminescent dove-gray
like the soft underbelly of a dog
Oh!
and if as on cue
a dove coos a block away
heralding the shift
coffee to water to wine
it slips from my grasp again
becoming still

and nearly
rain