from my childhood neighborhood

Bathed in blushing light, I do not dwell

upon death for the first time in weeks.

Instead, I let the atoms of my body

make cosmic love to the sidewalk shadows,

a strange sensation of fulfillment soaring 

past the treetops of this miniature world.

I welcome it— these rare quietudes—

where I can lay my armor down 

and think of nothing else beyond 

the forgiveness of sun 

on living skin.