William Bibby

LEAVES IN MENTON
                  (For SL and KW)


They have been here 
longer than you imagine,
axioms of light;
the leaves in Menton.

Photons chase like laughter 
across ninety million miles
landing with their impressionless
weight on our stubborn distractions 

that insist on knowing
what this is all about. 
But science has it all wrong. 
Its desperate mechanics

of carbon and radium and those clocks.
Time makes no sense even if it is true.
It’s a light that’s showing off.
It loves the translucent leaves

the same light but different 
on the other side, like us.