Spinning Shadows

I reached out to steady a low-hanging pierced brass lantern that drifted in the evening draft. The cool metal was warm only near its pierced dome, venting a faint trace of spiced oil into the dim archway. Tilting my head, I gave the tapered base a gentle, deliberate spin. Pinpricks of amber light burst across the curved sandstone wall, tumbling in a wide, fluid orbit of diamond constellations. As the lantern slowly revolved, the speckled shadows swept over my outstretched arms and the stone beneath my feet, weaving a silent, shifting lattice that pulsed with each lazy turn.