A Dazzling Illusion

A Dazzling Illusion

Driving in pouring night rain,
outside lights merge together
in kaleidoscope angles,
not unlike bold abstract paintings.
Brilliant colored strokes spread
over my windshield
like art under glass,
remind me of Christmas tree lights
viewed through tears

A child in my grandfather’s
threadbare, abandoned chair,
I try to block the tears
pooling in vacant pockets
under the lids of expectant December eyes.
I’d squint, stare at
that new artificial tree,
trying to blur the green plastic
back to the fragrant spruce
and my grandfather’s old stories.

Now I watch all the street colors
spin poinsettia pinwheels
in a dazzling illusion---
rain and tail-lights
in California winter,
So many odd years later,
preserved like a souvenir scorpion
under a cheap acrylic dome.

Author: Diane Funston

Photo credit: Frames For Your Heart on Unsplash