Sleight of Hand

Call it sleight of hand
A mesmerizing sight
She looks away and it’s gone
Brow furrowed in the pouring rain
While she’s chasing memories
Complicated and awestruck
Hiding from shadows
On street corners, in dreams
Fragmented echoes repeating
Then gone in an instant
Invisible and unsure
Shaking her fragile world
Umbrella shielding her fast
Against the vertical current
River sliding quickly past
A glance behind her back
Reveals a paranoia hardly felt
Taking over
Making her its slave
She shuffles faster now
Rhythm catching at her heels
Like phantom children
Calling her “little mama”
But affection makes them slight
Near whispers in the night
She breaks into a sprint
Dancing between the raindrops
Slight breeze picking up
Pushing her along
With the blinding certainty
That she exists

Even when the street is empty

Save for a lonely echo.

Sam