METAPHYSICS OF THE SHADOW

    

  

Pindar said

a man is just a dream 

of his shadow

I am the nightmare

of my walking shadow

 not even sure

it's mine.

*

Plotino refused to be

portraited because his self

was only the shadow

of his platonic prototype.

The shadow of a shadow

of a shadow of a shadow...

And the last shadow just

a seagreen twinkle

 in my cat's gaze.

*

Sat upon a rock in Montségur 

stronghold of the hapless 

Cathars and songful birds

the poet aligned his heart

to the sun in summer solstice

The poet became one of the Perfecti

sat upon a rock in Montségur:

his shadow rushed back to his lofty

mansarde in the old Paris.