CHILD'S PLAY IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN
XVI
After Captivity
After captivity
but before release,
after closed gates
but before open roads,
after the guards
but before open seas,
I stood with some friends
in the blistering blaze
of the day's naked sun
on a patch of road
once out of bounds
that now lay exposed,
beckoning us to explore,
to discover, adventure, and more,
but we stopped in our tracks,
and stared at our feet,
hard and calloused from being unshod,
as they pressed down into the road,
soft and yielding and hot to our soles,
and left our prints impressed in the tar
where slowly the cavities lost definition,
melting under the merciless glare
cast by the passing sun,
where we now stepped our awkward dance,
where solid surface proved illusion
discovered by children busy with play
laughing the day away.
XVI
After Captivity
After captivity
but before release,
after closed gates
but before open roads,
after the guards
but before open seas,
I stood with some friends
in the blistering blaze
of the day's naked sun
on a patch of road
once out of bounds
that now lay exposed,
beckoning us to explore,
to discover, adventure, and more,
but we stopped in our tracks,
and stared at our feet,
hard and calloused from being unshod,
as they pressed down into the road,
soft and yielding and hot to our soles,
and left our prints impressed in the tar
where slowly the cavities lost definition,
melting under the merciless glare
cast by the passing sun,
where we now stepped our awkward dance,
where solid surface proved illusion
discovered by children busy with play
laughing the day away.