Night Vision

Some years are a dark tunnel

claustrophobic with exhaust

Some, an open field

the biggest sky and the slightest breeze

And I suspect some years

fall somewhere in between

But my memory lately

is of the extremes

I walked from the meadow

into the cave

Not knowing how far it would go

Not knowing my suntan would fade

I made friends with the bears and the bats

and clung fast to a sliver of light

Hope, an afterimage

technicolor in my mind

I don’t know why I expected

to come out

the same creature

that went in

Now she’s the one I’m learning to befriend

My freckles have returned

but I’ve kept my night vision