Monday 3 February 2014

CHANGE OF SKIN




My friends won't know me.

I am about to shed a skin and go through changes.

For one thing, I shall be taller and newer

(which in itself is amazing!)

and for another, little bits of me

will have shiny corners and gleam

unexpectedly, refracting strange lights.



Mostly, at first, my awkward angles

will show through more pronouncedly.

Instead of gnawing my knuckles, biting my nails,

and rubbing my eyes half-asleep,

I shall tear off whole strips of skin

which will quickly shrivel and blow away,

brittle as a bug's transparent wing.

I must admit that this time around

I had hoped for wing-buds myself.

Instead I have a knob on one shoulder

and on the sixth finger of my left hand

a claw which I keep folded up in my palm.

No doubt I will find them useful

for carrying burdens and climbing mountains

in my next metamorphosis.



However, with every shrug of my shoulders,

a patch of the new me will be apparent.

Soon I will be iridescent -

a veritable Josephine in a skin-coat of many colours.

Though the rainbows won't last for long

and soon darken to the painful lace of tattoos,

I will have my moment of glory

when I stand up straight in an explosion of possibilities

leaving only a little mound of dust and scales at my heels.

No comments:

Post a Comment