A Visit From the Snake Man

by | Apr 23, 2013

 
         Outside my bedroom window, beneath the sound
         of wind and dry leaves, a shadow called
         my name–Willie, Willie. No relation to any tree
         or shrub in the yard, he was a wanderer, friend
         of the moon. He entered my room and said my name
         once more, slow and on one note so it sounded
         like foghorns of ships that pass in the river,
         familiar. “How do you do?” I asked and asked
         once more when he didn’t respond.
         He moved about like a nosy guest, pausing
         at my dresser, peering inside my armoire, lingering
         by the window. “Sometimes you look like a man
         carrying a satchel and then like a snake slithering
         up my wall.” And the moon lights you up like a ghost.
         I can nearly see right through you, he said
         I looked down at my nightgown, my bare arms. I was
         glowing like a corpse candle, translucent-blue.
         “I’m luminous,” I said and knew it. His shadow covered
         me like a blanket as if to put me out. Just like the moon,
         Willie, you have a dark side too and he stayed there
         above me, shifting from man to snake and back again
         before disappearing on a cloud.
         But I knew he would return. Sure as shine.
 
 
 
 
 

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