Impression

Two prints lead in opposite directions, like a root splitting, and collect bits of the world as it drifts by. The impact has been made. A puddle pools in one, reflecting the sky. The weeds angle for a better look — never before have they seen a footprint that stayed behind.

We leave our tracings in the most unimaginable ways, and someday we might follow the path backward, lifting stones and peaking into doorways to see from whence we came.

It was the smallest of moments, of course. It could have been nothing more. One step. A single step and the sidewalk changed, forever retaining the memory of a person who stood and let her weight sink down.

Thus, this patch of sidewalk points toward stillness—toward a path taken, a moment when the earth stood still.