Ferme tes Yeux

A young boy

on a vintage postcard from France

sat on a cobblestone sidewalk –

his elongated shadow scaled the gray stone wall

of some café behind him.

Before him, a circle of cat eyes

blue, green, and yellow

stared up at him

breaths held

as the boy launched the bumboozer at them.

I could hear the thunder crackle –

the same sound I heard

in church as a young man

when an elderly woman

lost her footing while exiting the pew.

First the snaps, then the thud

of organs and bones bagged in skin.

I sometimes think about the boy,

but more often the marbles.

I pray God will give them

eyelids.

published by the Eunoia Review November 22, 2021