Rustling leaves welcome the breezes,
but tree trunks remain silent.
I recognize the cry of an owl, 
not the scuffling:  that I cannot explain—

nor Jesus in Alton’s face. 
Both.  Shining.  From the dark.
It is not the day that holds the fire—
nor is there consolation in moonlight,

but rather: where time and place
don’t seem to matter,
nor the colors of skin,
falsely bleached by the bright sun

into a feigned harmony,
’til I’ve forgotten if it is hue or tone
of which we vainly speak.  Yes,
the night embellished as it deepened,

enhancing, as the night will do,
that which by day remains shadow.
I know what I saw in the upper room:
what cloaked me in gooseflesh—

and beckons gently now.