This poem by Gonzalinho da Costa is a finalist in the Furious Gazelle’s Halloween contest. The contest’s winner will be announced Friday. View the rest of the finalists here.

You Walk Along Shoulders

You walk along shoulders of bamboo groves,
Starlight treads in your footsteps.

You go forward with shifting seasons,
Summer ghosts are left behind.

You rise as the wind of briefest memory
Pushing shutters gently open.

You arrive, fresh rain at the door ajar,
Softly rustling dry silk.

Your spirit rests in tranquility at table,
Folding itself into a napkin.

You dwell in silence in the deepest part,
Inside there is only silence.

You sleep illumined by the guardian moon,
Windless, the stilling doom.

 

Gonzalinho da Costa is the pen name of Joseph I. B. Gonzales, Ph.D. He teaches Methods of Research in Management, and Managerial Statistics at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Makati City, Philippines. He is a management research and communication consultant, and Managing Director of Technikos Consulting, Inc. A lover of world literature, he has completed three humanities degrees and writes poetry as a hobby.