[Thespiritexpress] Read at on Tuesday: BirthdayCreature

[Riantee Rand]

> 
> The Creature on My Birthday
>  
> I sit perfectly still at a confluence of two streams
> my feet caressing the water
> where a twisted branch
> churns the water into foam.
> At the place where moss swaddle the massive rocks
> the quivering ferns plot a new flow
> and the sound of water turns into distinctive voices;
> when I listen too intensely,
> the voices become sounds again.
>  
> A black fish suddenly shoots across a deep pool
> clearing a path through my consciousness.
> When it leaves my vision I catch sight of a furry creature
> now swimming towards my leg.
> Its thick brown coat is dripping,
> wet strands partly hide its tiny ears,
> it has the tail of a swimmer, the eyes of a hunter,
> it is here, right here,
> in the eye of the present,
> on the head of a pin,
> so close to my truth
> it burns a hole into what I called my reality.
>  
> Through that window I catch sight of a new me
> untroubled as a forest,
> limpid as water,
> surrendered to what is.
> My leg is a tree trunk
> that can readily accept being climbed on.
> I am dispassionate and present,
> I do not need a name for the creature,
> I do not need a name for myself.
>  
> As the animal starts climbing my leg
> a branch suddenly snaps and startles me.
> My mind rapidly takes hold of the situation:
> What foolishness.
> My leg is no tree trunk,
> I am no forest.
> I am made of flesh
> that can be easily torn.
>  
> Horror stricken at my transformation
> the animal jumps back,
> and
> with an impossible twist of its spine,
> plunges backward into the water and swims out of sight.
>  
> The mind rearranges the world
> to make believe
> that it has control.
>  

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