shadowcaster

shadowcaster
Originally uploaded by rod lewis

Sun rising in my rearview,
darker sky ahead.

If I could ride hard enough,
could I make the sun set behind me –
not yet risen as it just did?
Make time stand still,
or even grow younger as I strain the
muscle of my V-twin.

But I know I can’t outrun the sun,
and so, I’ll ride into the sunset with
darker skies behind.

Will pointed out to me the other day,
that all the cars’ shadows were directly beneath them,
the midsummer sun so high in the sky.
Hours later, the shadows had hardly moved.

One must get up early to cast a shadow
before or behind.
And so I’m riding off at daybreak to see where
my shadow leads.

For I am but a shadow of the man
I will become.

I am a poem
and its reader,
reading up the page,
following each short white line
as it passes before my eyes and
beneath and behind me to become
a moment ago, this morning,
yesterday.