Second Summer
Even after such a long dark middle ages she resisted the cocoon until finally the gossamer weave was placed gently over her sagging shoulders. She folded herself into it gratefully and balled up to swim her way through the transition.
At once liquified, her hair and leaves sticking to her face in the amniotic stream of ancestors. A red thread wound tightly around the bundle, tangled in old spells and knotted into crumbled bones. She rocked and hummed an ancient song of respect and release, her heart beating time and counting tides.
Soon she found herself swimming through kelp and reed, at home in the antediluvian lake that knew her oldest name. Slender fingers webbed and speckled in a pale shimmer, weeds clinging to her as sunlight danced beyond the surface. As her first form stretched out she leapt beyond the dark waters into the trees, drying her pale wings on the highest branches of a yew as the green world welcomed her return.
As fledgling she leapt from branch to bough, testing wings and daring flight. Soon enough she soared over valleys as the stars rushed and the sky rolled constantly from night to day. She felt the clock in her body reset and seasons invert until she landed on the edge of the birthing cave, bear bone mother waiting by a low fire.
Birth is no easy task and she writhed in a painful sequence that her body knew already. She rocked and moaned without panic knowing what lay within that needed its own life. She ushered her soul towards its next home granting permission. At once she felt her old body rolling around her, fat like a toad and heavy with locks and fear. She tucked all the old spells under its thick skin and slipped beyond its tether, angling herself towards the light.
She emerged bewildered and sat up blinking, hands tracing the patterns she could see on her new skin. As the sun rose over her second summer sweet smoke curled about her in welcome. She made her way gingerly out of the cave towards the moon, unsteady on her feet and bone sure in her heart. She listened to the stars dancing above her chattering in codes that charted her next life. Everything tilted towards her now, its welcome a loving embrace.
Words and pic c. Kerrie Basha 2023