who goes there?---a poem by sherman pearl

[capture_me]

no switch needed;
the floodlights turn on
as though startled awake, the sensors alert
to whatever
moves through the night
---
whoever
comes close is revealed,
loved ones by a welcoming glow,
strangers
by the glare os suspicion
the dog saunter by and by accident,
like an oblivious god, brings light.
----
sometimes the lights
spring to life on their own, no body
in sight, no shadow
of some material thing
that had approached, then
scampered away,
chased by the fear of exposure.
---
what remains is the radiance.
The lights show nothing but themselces
and after a while
shut themselves off;
but the visiting presence lingers

till we can almost see it.
Come in, we breathe to the darkness.