Ni

Names can take a thing
That’s just a bit less,
The way shade is less

Light—a patch in more
Cut by what blocks light,
Not dark, not no-light,

Just less light in more,
Which is why it fades
And goes when dark falls—

And make it a thing
All its own, as if
Shade were a drop cloth,

A piece of the dark,
The soul of a beast,
A beast of its own.

Names make names of shade,
What names are as signs,
The less light, not dark,

All they stand for, thrown,
Pi, ni, phi, each piece,
Like a soul, brought low.