Father and son talking over dinner
sharing the spaces between stars
light years, parsecs,

and the son’s question
holds the silence for a while:
can light become a liquid?

Maybe, yes maybe that’s what happens
at absolute zero, when nothing moves
but light. They are poised between

forkfuls while autumn sun floods
through the windows, freezes the moment
fuses the instant, holds it for ever.

© Steve Walter
Commended, Connections, Autumn 2002

Dinner time