Even amongst the mires and marshes
at our beginnings we envied the birds
their song grown sweet amid the tawny thorns
of survival. Schemes were lit and fires
laid smoke to climb through the roast heat of bones
and blister of wings until the remains
displayed their hollow, fleshless tunnel caves
here the first enchantments lifted from lips,
swift fingers coaxed the perforated pieces
of death to a fresh flight of flurried dance
now strumming soul soft from our stereos.
