Reptiles of the mind
by rebecca ~ February 3rd, 2005. Filed under: Poems & art.(Upon hearing the 2005 State of the Union Address)
“The man who never alters his opinion is like
standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.”
–William Blake
The fetid pond frightened away most visitors
but not the reptiles, who slithered and slipped in
the slime with slight chlorophyll grins.
The water surrendered to the revelry
with a nitrogenous green song, silencing the lives
of all, fish or fowl, who cried for oxygen and clarity.
Those who thrived in the cauldron of algae
were left alone to exhale in clouded caves.
But then one day the sun broke through the grey air
and with baker’s hands wrapped these creatures
in fresh papered skins to bake
their eye sockets empty of any misdeeds
while the water desiccated into flour, then bread.
The grasses grew long tresses into the earth
and tangled and tossed about their seeds.
Then someone saw a child arrive with twigs and feathers
twisted in unkempt hair. It romped on sturdy legs
through paintbrush and dandelions, singing
a song void of colors, void of words,
drowning out the ancestors’ coughing bones.