through light spill on our deck,
bunched over tiny claws,
tail bare and dragging.
You’re there and gone
quicker than belief.
“A possum?” we ask each other,
shake our heads.
Last night you stopped,
looked in to where moon faces
glowed from dim TV.
Our eyes locked for one instant,
yours deep and luminous
as starlight in a well:
eternal victim eyes, unguarded
like those we sometimes see
in mirrors.