Day 4: The Shortest Days (The Shadows)

7 Days of Late Autumn | Day 4: The Shortest Days

The sun is a thief these days,

 slipping out the back door by four-thirty in the afternoon. 

One minute the sky is a bruised purple, the next, 

the dark has claimed the living room.

I click on the amber lamp in the corner, 

watching the shadows stretch across 

the floorboards like long, dark fingers. 

There is a strange intimacy to these brief afternoons— 

a forced retreat. 

The world shrinks to the size of a rug,

 and we are left with nothing but our own thoughts 

to keep the dark at bay.