The Shades of My Life by Alexander Lazarus Wolff

Photograph by Fred Wilbur

The sky streams by overhead, a blue tapestry
dappled with puffs of white, each cloud haloed

by the sun’s mild gold. The day is at its half-
way point. Soon, the sky will lose its hold on gold,

the blue spruce will sigh, the verdure of their green
growing imperceptible as night unveils its black cloak

But, for the moment, the sun’s orange rays still shower down;
the moon’s silver sliver is an afterthought for the firmament.

I sit in front of my computer to write, the white screen
staring back at me. This is nothing new: my chairs tawny

faux leather faded to a bland beige from years of constant use.
Sometimes, I trace the silver rings of my keyboard,

watching as black letters string together to form words.
Time streams by as mauve overtakes

the sky’s former cobalt: the day is growing red.
I must remember how I spent this light, these amber rays

that fade into the ochre of dusk. The days prismatic finale—
sepia, pink, and violet—-colors the sky as if it were a canvas.

Night has come, its black liquor spilling through my window.
My window glows with a soft white before fading into night.


Alexander Lazarus Wolff
Alexander Lazarus Wolff is a student at the College of William & Mary. His work has been published or is forthcoming in The Best American Poetry website, The Citron Review, Black Fox Literary Magazine, South Florida Poetry Journal, Main Street Rag, Serotonin, and elsewhere. You can find him and more of his work on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wolffalex108/ on Instagram: @wolffalex108 and at www.alexanderlazaruswolff.com.

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