Monday, March 24, 2025

Merlin

I spied him in Wales
atop a broken castle, his cape
whipping in wizard wind
above pale parapet stones
ground into uneven history.
Other times I saw him
reflected in rainy day puddles,
a beard of brazen branches,
or white clouds dusting the moon.
Later, I saw him at a strip mall
in New Jersey, opening a magic shop,
his black robes embossed
with signs of the zodiac and caught
on the door of his rusted pickup truck.
He waved a satin scarf
and shook out dime store magic
for buck-tooth kids with lazy eyes
that hoped against hope it was real.
“Hard time for wizards?” I asked.
“I’m still on the clock,” he said.
“The wheel of time’s a bitch,
and the world has grown so blind.”
I walked away and turned. “Wales?”
He winked and pulled a crumb from his beard.
“A trick of the mind, son.
Like everything, a trick of the mind.”

~William Hammett


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