the sign at the entrance says carry what weighs on you to the center
leave it there and walk out with what is good
so i come in after dark in the sandals i wore all day
carrying what everyone carries in
the people i’ve let down
and a bad month i haven’t told anyone about
it rained for a few hours before dark and the ground gives under my sandals
it’s chilly and my arms are bare in the dress
somebody has set little lights along the path and candles in glass lanterns
i came at night because i thought the dark would help
the lit places make the unlit places darker
at the gate a man is lighting lanterns off other lanterns
the fire in the middle won’t take because the wood is damp
he left his box of lighters at home
my partner has one in a pocket and passes it over
he says his name is dragon and tonight he is the whole staff
the path is cut grass between two rows of white rock
the rock went in twenty years ago and the ground has been taking it since
in places the grass has grown right over it
so the line i’m meant to follow goes under and comes back up somewhere else
i follow the worn part and the worn part ends
i step where it feels right and land in a ring i’ve already walked
i know it by the one rock still standing proud of the ground at the bend
i find it and then i find it again
the flame beside it leans every time i pass
the third time i pass it i start keeping score
somewhere ahead a person with better instincts
is already at the center setting hers down
and i’m back here with all of it still on me
outwalked by a lawn
a man comes around in the next ring over
the lanterns light him from below
he’s walking like someone favoring a foot
he asks if i’m lost
i say yes
he says he’s been going the wrong way since the gate
he has stubbed his toe on every rock in here
the grass has covered half of them and they look like ground
he laughs and goes on around the bend like he has all night
i’d had everyone else in here down as knowing the way
the altar is in the far corner and i get to it by accident
i’ve seen the picture of it new
swept gravel and a fresh plant at the front
the grass is up past the offering dish now
clover has come through the place where people were meant to set things down
i sit in the grass beside it
my hem goes damp right away
i’ve been walking as if there were a clock at the center
i take it all out and look at it
every one of them has called me since like nothing happened
and underneath in a smaller voice
is what i call myself when i take a wrong turn
i look at it once the way you look at something found in a drawer
and set it down in the dish
nothing shows
the clover stays exactly as it was
when i get up i walk slower than i’ve walked anywhere
and say to myself what i’d say to anyone else lost out here
easy
i come back on packout day in the early afternoon
it’s warm and the dress is finally the right thing to be wearing
dragon is carrying the lanterns out
my partner and i take the rings
my partner goes through them like a hallway
i’m in the third ring inside ten minutes
i laugh out loud the way you laugh at a friend who’s done it again
i say hello to the rock
it’s the first thing all week that was where i left it
the last six lanterns are on the far side of the fourth ring
dragon has a wagon to fill and one pair of hands
my partner has been out to the wagon and back twice
i’ve gone around the same bend four times with the same rock
so i step over the white rock where it’s sunk to a ridge in the dirt
nobody says a word
i walk straight across the grass that was cut for someone to follow
it gives under my sandals like any other ground
i take the lanterns by their handles
still warm from the sun
and go out the shortest way there is
dragon takes them from me one at a time
and sets them in the wagon
he doesn’t ask which way i came
—lyra moon (most nights the deer cross the fourth ring in a few strides and one of them has a notch in her ear)
october 14, 2026