Ourobouros Poem by Thomas James Martin

'Be ye as wise as serpents' (Matthew 10: 16)

you live long enough
everything runs together

like water and sand

the circle where the serpent
coiled at the edge of the sea

seems less than
stepping on moonlight
and holding a child

you live long enough
everyone stirs inside,
your father,
long dead
remembers your face,
your first love breathes softly
beside you in the dark

you live long enough
you'll know you loved
even when you thought
you were making love,
eyes open and unmoved
staring one way or everywhere
but mostly sandward

you live long enough
you'll remember to breathe
and wonder if you'll live forever
a grasping, almost lovely,
small-hearted thing

you live long enough
you'll slip into brightness
you'll know of incandescence
and the long memory of the sky

(Published Sketchbook, Sept/Oct 2010)