I AmA firefly I am in the night
and more, I am honey and bread, I am hemlock,
I am the wave and salt of the sea I am
a ladle of insipid rainwater,
a poppy I am of love
the closed seed of every flower
and like every seed I plunge into the earth,
I am the drunken song of a warbler,
a black and gold butterfly, a grain of sorrow.
I am a snail that won’t stick
to the barks of willows.
I am a river trout,
a lost wing, evening sadness.
In these thoughts I want to recoil
like a porcupine in its bristles,
I want to feast on oil and wine,
cling to the earth until the end
like a dry leaf to a poplar.