SHADOWS
We walk together on this late
December afternoon as we have walked
For more than half a century.
If we stand each year in sunshine
In this short season, our shadows
Never show our change.
Tall silhouettes aimed north
Across a field of snow,
Constants in a shifting world.
Steps slow, we tire, hope
Dulled by gathering years, yet
When we pause in winter sun
Our images escape
The weight of flesh,
Never age or waver.
Illustration by Sarah Hasty Williams
Gene Kimmet is a retired professor of economics from Harper College in Palatine, Illinois. His poetry collections include Shadows (Canopic 2019), Recollections of My Father (Canopic 2015), Skipping Stone (Dream Stone Press 2000) and In Fee Simple (Stormline Press 1986.)