Mirage

Across the moor
a curious glance away
through brooding darkness
hangs a shimmering web

– lights
through a windscreen

distant lights
innocent
in the vast somnolent night

the sodium sprawl
across the hills
reminds me that
amongst the scattered jewels
lie thorns and snags

– a trap
for those who loiter
among the filaments

cubic zirconia
in the spider’s dewy net

Pass at a distance
one light slowly merging
with the rest

no detail, snags, regrets
or pain
just lights in the rain
and burdensome night
pressing on the glass

I see you all

every one
by TVs and computer screens

– fighting
in bars and kitchens

– hurting
and being hurt

– trying, failing
and dying in the detail

I am aloof

– proof of the existence
of another world

outside of life
outside of detail
outside the downcast lights

too different
to contemplate

too distant
to know

But I know you
shimmering seductress

– mirage
washed from your slopes
by grey morning rain

– extinguished
by the passing of the night

– made false
your beauty a mere
trick of light

or darkness

or both

You are decoration

– ornament
superficial prettiness
nothing more

be grateful

– sparkle
sprawl across your hills

– ignore me
believe in something else

something that you care about
– that cares for you

don’t waste time
on shadows
passing on the midnight moor

on phantoms passing thru