Like a small rodent, I scurry through narrow
passageways between walls of academia  

land in a classroom teaching everything
proud of how I do it, distill it,
condense it to a scattering of North Stars  

When maturity melts
my students’ faces
I’m done
I run
to a table for two atop a fire engine  

That’s where I notice
a baby without a body
just a spotlight
a black circle
a shadow of nothing
a little me
a shadow of nothing  

and I wonder how nothing casts a shadow