Scales of Little Wisdom

Scales of a little wisdom
fall from a colorless fish
that slips through the night.
They stick to our skin
and lend us their sleepwalker shine.

But our skin is sadly opaque
and the fish never within our reach.
Night saves the fish
for all that is free of death.

Still, those scales of wisdom
go on falling over us
as if they gathered silence
and wanted to bring us a silence greater
than that fish's silence in the night.

Copyright © 2009 Mary Crow All rights reserved
from Subtropics
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission