aurora borealis reprisal
faded but discernible
because a repeated pattern
of the night before
brightening along the northern
pine tops, centered below
the north star as dusk sky
to the southeast
settles into indigo
gradually that northern glow
grow turquoise, then aquamarine
and haze lines, long in reaching
toward the zenith, become distinct
some carrying dull greenish tint
other rays blushing like youth
caught glancing toward a centerfold
but still able to protest
“No, Mom, I never saw anything – it
was just there.”
