Safe Passage
Lie down on the damp earth, here where ferns
arc between trunks of fallen oak.
Open your herring-bone coat, let the red
of your dress sing out above the hum of green.
Breathe deep, press your shoulders back
into the pillow of sticks and broken leaves.
That one patch of sky framed in the canopy
will be your marker. Learn its contours.
The air around you hesitates, draws back,
pulls gravity with it – you are enfolded: falling.
Earth walls rise on every side,
darken through layers of decay.
Your knees buckle, insects drop into your mouth
and as your back meets rock you melt through it;
drift from the gods to the pit of chamber
after chamber; sink into blind water and emerge dry.
II
Your breath jostles for space in the used up air,
and the cold is at you instantly. Stand up
and look around you.Thrusts of wall and roof
make a passage ahead, just wide enough to slip through.
On the other side you are taller - bend double
to keep the possibility of movement alive.
The noise is louder now,
its pain increasing.
You must steady yourself towards it.
III
I could tell you that your coat is torn,
your dress stained,
that time is running out.
I could drop pebbles in your path,
or leave a trail
of unwound thread to snag on corners and bring you home.
But that is not your way:
you will go on alone until your eyes,
raw with darkness,
adjust to what little light remains.
Page(s) 54-55
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