simple radiance

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this time, walking over earth, I saw it

the pale luminescence in stone and leaf

it wasn’t new—more like older than time

and wider than the things themselves

my body was exhausted, so I didn’t expect

to go very far, just past the forest service gate

when I saw the buck across the dry gully

standing next to a huge alligator juniper

only one antler was left on its head

which it shook til the other fell off

and like that, a veil of shadow fell away

from my eyes and I saw it, everywhere

a field or ocean of delicate light spilling

through, illuminating each thing from within

the way there is light in someone’s face

because they are alive, it was there

looking back at me

Clelia Vahni Lewis

©2022