Carbon-Neutral Dreams

Around midnight, I look outside

and see small solar lamps in the garden
glow. Daytime, the lamps
stuff a little sunlight in their pouches,
which at night they empty.

Soft and unassuming, the light
massages flowers and stones.
Seeing the lamps stirs some hope in me--
not much, but these days even
some is welcome. i stumble

back to bed to sleep and,
like solar lamps, to release soft
neural light into carbon-neutral dreams.

hans ostrom 2024