Poetry
The Year of the Snake
-January 25, 2025
The sky had erupted, pouring
and creating fierce cyclones
like the wrath
of an angry dragon.
Only to suddenly settle down
gently like a spring blossom.
The little pink petals—
twirling
descending
softly.
And as the flooded river began
to calm I thought I saw a horse
like a majestic stallion swim
ashore. But I was distracted
by the sound of crunchy
shedded skin from beneath
my feet like walking on
dry autumn leaves.
Shedded skin like the sorrowful
and weighed down old years
of frustration and hunger.
An animal that has learned
to walk without limbs;
replace agility and mobility
with cunning and intelligence.
There with beautiful silky
and vibrant new scales,
a flicker of a thin
pitchforked tongue,
and mesmerizing vertical
split pupils.
I couldn’t help,
but succumb
to its
venom.