I wonder if I was a cat in a past life
Staring at the birds
Lazing for hours
Except in this life I don’t pounce on prey
I devour those darting movements, those transparent beams fighting inside
And I’m too rapid as I eat
As they repeat
Again and again
I can see my habits reflected in distractions that carried me here
And are those distractions working?
This cycle, drawing up soils I’ve neglected for 35 years knows little of the answer
And these worms I found, would they have satisfied the cat I was
Would the seeds I planted grow into life that nourishes me and my babies
I shrug, as for now
Being the human I appear to be
Am hungry
Not because the soil isn’t fertile
But I’ve boxed time so neatly that no root had a chance to bed a home, to spread
I can be still for hours, like a lioness
But once I move
It’s violent
And I may have forgotten where I left my cubs
So for now I roam alone
Until I remember that the rain can find me better when I grow tall, steadily.
No life wants to hide away from the sun.