My Life, Begun

I wish I saw the world
or the world saw me
and held me uncurled
in the waving fronds
swirling ponds with pools
of cool water, unrequited
with life uninvited, and wars
like stories veiled, held
under shimmers from the sun
my life, begun

I wish I could coil
and uncoil like a snake,
taking part in retraction,
stories eaten backwards
half words like poison,
biting tongues and I
could slide under shade
fade into patterned grace...
my snake-like face
and fate like tracing
curls I left in sands
time that holds no clock
sliding under rocks and
speaking in reverse-
in verse like ssssslippery lies
biting tongues and I...

I wish the folding unfurled
the world called my name
and I came like a child
whose mother cries a worry
to the wind, my life begins
in water and ends
in lies, and I want
to feel the push and pull
the full extent of living-
cords swimming to their break
a snake that knows its soul
unbending as it goes
and I want to fall into grace alone
home inside the shimmered glass
the passing from a child into yon
my life, begun