Shadows

When he leaves the room,
the lights flicker,

secretly, and rain
drizzles outside. No one cares. The party
is beginning

and the hosts, lovely they are, serve up
some fruity concoctions

to the partygoers. Outside,
rays of the moon
shine on a dancing couple. The trees watch.

The man
is reaching out for a glass. He wanders
from conversation to conversation, imputting
his share of gossip.

His body moves quietly--slowly, steadily
as a cat creeping upon its prey. Eventually,

in April,
the corpse will be unmasked, it will present itself

and no one knows yet; the women,
after the arrest will talk, saying I knew he
was odd, I could sense it, but that's a lie.

Only the house knew he was plotting among them,
an unknown star, and shadowing him

horror, drama, romance,

a runaway soap opera.