Shades

Already she is lost in the tension
between waking and walking away,
the pull from madness to bliss.
She mourns for shades
without shades among them

and shuns the charcoal smudges
steady gradations, days of wavering.
Balancing points change to suit
planetary alignment, strong wind,
sudden denials, or hunger before noon.

Here in these blurred midlands,
she must make a home,
find comfort with the subtle shifts
between good and broken,
what’s done and undone,

open and shut.