And so I have gone over
to the other side:
fresh voices echo into the future,
becoming distant,
and leave me behind,
sitting on the dock,
the wind sweeping lazily across
unfamiliar shallows
An absence of snakes
fills me
with foreboding
Heavy-bodied,
I am a pelican
waddling on the boards,
mouth sharp, grotesque,
getting nowhere
I know there is more:
I watch my brother birds
launch themselves
into the grace of God
where they transform,
skim the waves,
fly like a dream
Holding my ground,
I wish I could let go