The moon put shadows on the desert road
like pools of night in dips of dry terrain
that vanished when our headlights poked and showed
us how it was: the asphalt gray again.
As when a heated ribbon road appears
by water striped in puddles far ahead,
until the traveler moving forward nears,
and phantom water turns to road instead,
the pavement watermark is lunar light
deluding and delighting willing eyes,
for desert makes mirages out of night
as well as day. Its distances disguise
our views and prod us with the moving theme
impressions make us make, of how things seem.