Poem: Shadows at 13:55

In the afternoon shadows
Meaning is hidden behind road side branches
Broken by last weekends’ wind storm
Amidst suburban groves and ranches

I venture down empty late winter streets
Homeowners at work, retirees serving tea
Post office boxes for each neighbourhood
Dogs half-heartedly barking to scare me

End of the line down a dead end road
Bordering the freeway and its busy traffic
Power lines and background train whistles
The countryside littered with development signs and plastic

A tree fort in a thick forest
A decaying house ready for smashing
A tennis court, sagging net and scruffy green
Gated yard to a future mansion
Strange sites in a quiet sunny afternoon scene

The shadows are real as are their casters
Relaxing in the late winter sun, between corona and virus
Time keeps rolling out despite our protests
Waiting for our kneeling hand kiss

~ Gunnar Våken