Retractile lights

there are women that love
and allow to be loved
once only

the sun within their eyes
never changes its
ascension

they panic and fold back
like oysters
when intensely looked at

there will be no second time
where the first deception
is sovereign

these women permanently
wear elusive shadows
on their faces

thus few have the chance
to glimmer there
undeservedly


Published in Butterfly Thunder, anthology of The Ontario Poetry Society, 2007