Revenant – a poem by Linda Conroy

Revenant     						

Am I like Alice, gazing, stepping,
tumbling through the looking glass?

I try to find you, your new form.
Who are you now, a bird of paradise?

Or a sparrow, thriving on borrowed charm,  
dancing with Mad Hatter, 

a Red Queen rising to that magic place
where I wait for your image to appear?      

A fairy child with gold spun hair, reaching
both hands to the sky, talking to yourself

of being left behind, when those of us 
less whimsical stride into the world.    

Did I dream you from a hundred hopeful
incantations, carve you from the earth?                         

Are you real? Can I still reach you here,
touch the ragged edges of your shirt?    

Linda Conroy, a retired social worker, enjoys writing about the complexities of human nature and our connection to the natural world. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies. She is the author of poetry collections Ordinary Signs and Familiar Sky.