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.”