Shadows

As the sun slides down from noon to dark,

the shadows form, dusky outlines that creep

across the landscape, shadowy forms conforming

their shapes to where they fall, straight and tall

against my home, or laid flat, wrapped over

and around an uneven ground, the hills and valleys,

rocks and roots, odd shapes that litter my yard,

the shadows growing long in the sun’s setting,

even my own, standing here at day’s end

watching the sun settle itself over the lake,

turning the sky to blue and orange, pink vermillion,

lengthening behind me, my shadowy self,

darkening, too, conforming, creeping slowly

along the water’s edge reflecting sky and night approaching,

dissolving, as shadows do, at the end of the day.