Wednesday, 26 November 2014
The Snake
By Arlene Corwin of Arlene Corwin Poetry
On the way to the post,
I see a snake curled up and squashed.
In shock and pain I squat
Undignified in car/road dust,
The gray-black leather sheen unwashed.
Half inspecting, half in prayer,
Grieving at his being there
I quietly approach the snake,
Then shake again with shock and pain:
He’s moving, edging toward the verge.
Skin’s been nicked and cracked
Yet moving bravely in his dirge,
The little nasal tongue has flicked.
I hover over him, my child.
The patterned, poison-free and wild
Snok* not ‘other’, but my own.
I wait until he’s reached a stone.
Perhaps it’s good to cover him.
Perhaps he’ll live.
Perhaps he’ll hide beneath the snow.
Perhaps he can survive.
He needs water. Can he heal?
Try to move him? That’s a threat.
Call a vet?
I can’t deal with this. It’s better
If I will him to his fate.
I wait and add some rotting leaves.
I’ll check tomorrow
Leaving destiny to weave
Destiny who’d never grieve.
So why should I?
*Swedish: snok, pronounced snoke - a lovely harmless snake often found in barns or near water. He’d probably been dropped by a bird. I went back and found him dead the next day.
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Posted by Ronni Bennett at 05:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post
Comments
The comments to this entry are closed.
Arlene, This is lovely poetry. You sound a lot like me-- someone who rescues birds and bats and turtles and tree frogs and even bugs whenever I come upon one in the wrong place.
Thank you.
Posted by: Madeleine Kolb | Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 12:43 PM
This is beautiful and meditative and cool and terrific and wonderful. I once picked up what I thought was a piece of wire in a cellar only for it to wriggle off. Lovely lovely snakey :)
Posted by: George Reece | Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 01:17 PM
This the first (I swear it) time in my whole long life that somebody has showed me the loveliness of SNAKES.
First time, too, that I'm anxious to drop my unwieldy fear of one part of nature.
You are a talented writer. I hope we hear more!
Barbara Upimg
Posted by: barbara young | Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 01:45 PM
Oh dear, I meant to sign my message
Barbara Young, but obviously I picked on the wrong keys!
Posted by: barbara young | Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 01:46 PM
Arlene -I loved this - your last three lines were perfect - I am going to write them out to remind myself that not everything can be fixed - at least not by me!
However coming from Australia where most of the snakes around here are extremely venomous and having lost two dogs to them in our own garden I will have to work hard to be so accepting.
Posted by: Jeanette | Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 07:56 PM
you never cease to amaze me.
Dolores
Posted by: Dolores Moore | Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 10:20 PM
Dear Jeanette, Barbara Young, Madeline Kolb, George Reece, Dolores, I'm so thrilled that you reacted the ways you did. I just read the poem to my husband and almost cried myself - I, who have written it.
Thanks a million.
Posted by: arlene corwin | Thursday, 27 November 2014 at 08:36 AM
I am not a snake lover, but do love animals and your beautiful poem made me cry.
I'll never look at snakes the same way again!
DelBB
Posted by: Del Brownlee Bashkow | Friday, 28 November 2014 at 06:41 AM
Good, DelBB!
I've looked at snakes kindly ever since I moved to Sweden. There are 3 kinds of snakes here: a beautiful copper snake (harmless) the above mentioned snoke (harmless) and the huggorm ( beautiful, bites but is never fatal).
Yes, I love them!
Posted by: arlene corwin | Friday, 28 November 2014 at 09:32 AM
Dear Arlene, happy to hear from you again.
I enjoyed your poetry.
We have huggorms in Denmark as well but I avoid them..
Winter is here,very cold and dark early.All the best.enriqueta
Posted by: enriqueta s. rasmussen | Thursday, 04 December 2014 at 07:36 AM