I could recognize you from a bird’s eye view

from our biggest star’s rays and

launch to bounce back

from the mirror that is this water

sitting, pacing, indulging in your pits like

a skull’s mouth socket where we have wished

to swim through before.

You had cattle before my age,

eating at the grassland while nearby

a canoe is carried as if it were featherlight

and human-less, much like

the violet dragonfly

the green caterpillar

the spider web after catching dew drops.

Did you know anything about me then?

of my cat-like steps and their sprint;

the violent need to be hushed and soothed

by your dog-like spillway, barking about each story of

the fish and the tadpole children?

Nobody wants to soothe you but

everybody wants to tame you

Not I, as I play your branches like harps

Not I, as I go hip-deep in you current

in current times.

Back when you were bare,

or should I say covered?

Back then

when I did not belong

you were the most beautiful thing.

And what’s that? the clouds

have spiraled above me like eagles

the stream has reached my neck

I am all liquid, bending,

frivolous at most

and I carry you as you carry me

not featherlight

but heavy

not soothed

but soothing

until the world is no longer