Mani Rao imagines the sun as an artist working all day with the speaker as its subject. The sun “draws” the speaker not in bright lines but in “shadow-wash”—the soft, shifting outline cast on the ground. As the day passes, that shadow changes shape and position, so the drawing is constantly being revised, then erased, only to begin again. The word “wash” gives the image a fluid, watery feel, like a sketch made in pale ink or watercolor.
The mood is quiet and a little strange. Being drawn and erased all day creates a sense of impermanence—the speaker becomes someone whose image is never quite finished, always being corrected by time and light. At the same time, there is something gentle, almost attentive, in the idea that the sun spends a whole day on this one body.