Palnide XXIV

Palinode XXIV


The rat
that leapt off

my back
to enter heaven

first
is still a rat.

I am an ox,
stoic and traditional,

keeping
to the rich furrows

cut by
abiding love.

It’s true:
when I was ten

I wished
I were a monkey,

overturning heaven
with my

antics, changing
into a fish,

a freckled bustard,
a roadside

shrine.
But mother died

and went ahead
of me

and all wishes for change
left too.

If I should turn
into

a rooster or a pig,
how would

she recognize her boy
when she

passed by the rocky
fields?

Or, now,
these regions of fire?


Image credit: https://www.epicentrofestival.com/

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