Dilate pupils, open wide
By Thomas A. Beyer
This work was published in the Fall 2012 issue of The Lost Country. You may purchase a copy of this issue from us or, if you prefer, from Amazon.
Dilate pupils, open wide,
Find the way across the threshold,
The barrier between
Man-made day and wild night.
Thrust into the black and white
World of midnight gloom,
The pool light is a beacon
To both bug and me alike.
It bursts through the chlorine
To drown the backyard in its glow,
Plunge its drab environs
In a bath of daytime hues.
The trees’ soft undersides
And their striking, radiant green,
Against the inky sky stand out,
And bewitch a ready eye.
If ever the gaze of Helios’ blazed,
And Nyx ne’er spread her cloak,
Always tinted would the whole world be,
And we would never see one thing, only many.
But the Chariot shall rise anew
And undo the nighttime magic
Of a chilly pool in summertime
And its brilliant light of difference.