Surface

That night, tiredness fell awake
into claws that cut words
out of a black cloud;

they formed a dream,
bulky and slow,
but untethered

like a whale on wet clay
carving its path
among an old memory of moving.

Half a bright moon
was enough to form a glow
around relief;

immense wildness
wrested from teeth
that could cut the air

clean through.
Now the leopard slept,
soft, sharp, lambent.