Haunted by the sunlight

He unspooled them all

Around the hillside in a frantic dance

 

Then rubbed in a cold shower the sea

Then over the clouds

Leaving them staggering

And dangling to each other

Like pale ghosts on a rose bush

 

Spinning their lives before them

Whether he came for them

On the beach or home

In a fragmented hush

 

Counting their names and ages

As a mental postscript for later

Before screwing the lid on their lives

And leading them off stage

 

Between the earth

and whatever comes next

turning his hour glass upside down

until he can’t see room for more

 

And he will be left dumb stricken

mistaking life for death

and the rain for tears

with every life he takes.