Snake Woman

To lounge
perched oblivious
nature vs domesticity
decision in limbo

I call upon the rains
pray for cleansing
this too-worn skin
eager to shed

I welcome the Divine
sweet messages
of birdsong
serenading

It’s fear that draws me
away from Nature’s charm
a creeping compulsion
that I don’t belong

I am hungry
swallow my prayers whole
wallow in the acidic burn
of betrayal’s ashes

I am greedy in my misery
will stuff myself
with expectation
and forgo pleasure

What am I but baggage?
A burden
locked in my shame

A side show
whose lethargy renders me
incompetent

Illness is a thief
have lost what is sacred
choking on the feathers
of the song that once fed me.

Passion the cloth
that contains me
Time a transformer
if only I surrender

I’ll grow a new skin
confident and fearsome
am I not afterall
reptilian born?

(Art my own)

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VJ

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

26 thoughts on “Snake Woman”

  2. We all, go through, these kinds of, metamorphoses, and, although, we may not know why we’re being, put through these, trials, but, eventually, it all, makes, sense, and, we understand, that, these, hard to, overcome moments only made us, grow, stronger.

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  4. For some reason, your line “swallow my prayers whole” really struck a note with me. Now I need to ponder this. Thank you.

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  11. This poem gives me a real sense of a struggle to come out on top. I like the analogy of the reptile, shedding so many skins that make life challenging to come out on top. Kind of like the weed that gets cut down, but keeps on growing….stubborn thing.

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