A Slender Shadow

Leaving the quiet table indoors, I walked down the stone path toward the sundial plaza in the neighborhood park. On the pale stone plinth, someone had discarded a slender metal hairpin with a polished jade bead at its curve. I paused at the edge of the stone circle, watching how the gnomon's dark shadow slowly crawled toward the stray ornament. With measured care, I knelt and nudged the pin's tapered tip with both hands, aligning its straight edge directly along the dial's shadow line. The pin settled into the dark silhouette, motionless and unified with the passing hour.