First there is the light
and then there’s the
trying to remember

For awhile the whole blaze
can be invoked in memory
and there are various
tricks to try to do so

Then there’s the gleam,
a light that’s still real
but indirect, and there’s
the gazing at it, trying to think
if that’s the thing
we saw before,
if that’s the light that dazzled us

And it doesn’t seem quite the same
along the shining stones
but the essence is right.

We start to ask,
did we ever see it
as something more?
We try to re-engage
but ultimately
it will take a new dose of sun,
liquid reflected,
to kindle that first brightness once again.

©Wendy Mulhern
August 26, 2016