©2021 Michael Raven

i illusion i
               fading out through in you

i shadow i
             whisper wind the songs we
      sang in youth tripping 
                                    along
                   railroad tracks
     summer you pretended i didn't
 stare at your long brown hair and

i masqued you
                     walking the paths by
the island water edge scrim of
             trees kissing under a
       graffiti bridge in dusklight
                    eventide
                           stopping
              at the clickclackrattle
         gearshift headlight change
                              pretending
        we were friends onlyfriends
strolling lakeside lagoon street
                 so               quiet       i

walked i
       past the house where some
           one slept, wondering
 how it was one could
    reside             across from
                        the sacred burial
mounds clifftop rimrock water
          flowing under and still 
       still
              still
              sleep at night knowing
you may sleep in the house on
            graves
            unreported
                            undiscovered
in the name of a view
                the manitou howling
through the trees
                     winds and souls

i illusion i
              songs
                     of queens
        thrumming pound in my
      heart