Dancing with Shadows but Walking towards the Light

She walks with lightness and grace,
not afraid of stains of time
showing marks on her eyes and her face.
Time is not cruel, she ponders,
It’s just flying on his own right
like the dragonfly above the water
gliding in four wings in oblivious wonder.
She knows her time on earth is brief,
and while here, she is just fine,
dancing with shadows but walking
towards the light.
Perhaps tomorrow
she’ll shed one or two tears
or encounter another sorrow,
for, one day she’ll perish,
like the bird and the leaves
and same as the good and the wicked.
As for now, she walks with time
and knows that while it flies,
life is still pulsing under her feet.
Today she smiles, she does not perish. 
Not today!

--Bernadete vdw, ’25