A Calculation of Dark
       

In this ruined light — the dark leaking into the garden
as if light were an interloper

whose presence, no longer desired,
is sequestered to other places — the urgency of shadow

conspires, determines cross-woven words that lie
in the gap between desire

and undisclosed restraints.
Such absence is mocked by the schack-schack of jay

concealed in the elderberry beyond the boundary wall
but a quiver of leaves betrays

as will a breath, caught,
or the silk-split of a leaf loosed from its stem.

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Copyright © 2016 Ruth O'Callaghan All rights reserved
from An Unfinished Sufficiency
Salmon Poetry
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission