melissaahowells - This Snake

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there is a snake
who lives on a high mountain plain
the size of all of the Southern U.S.
so cold there its an inhospitable at 40 below

I don't think it thrives--
but it lives theres

at 14,000 feet above sea level
in the Himalayas
it must live very carefully
swimming in a shallow pool which are
hot springs heated by geo-thermal activity
far below from the bowels of the earth

the snake's orange piercing eyes
are unusual and off-putting
its gaze so intense that it looks
as if its gazing inwardly
it slinks ever so carefully
stuck, trapped in the heated pools

I wonder does it know fear
I feel sorry for it
which is odd
since I don't like snakes
or more honestly,
I'd say I have a natural revulsion for them
having been bit but the most benign of them all
where a rabid garter snake
latching onto my left ankle
biting and then drawing blood
and hence, drawing from me
a deep abiding horror of snakes
from my soul
at the same time

this Himalayan snake
who lives on the desolate plain
is a different breed
he is blameless as far as I'm concerned

his vampiric gaze is
a pitiful disguise
for the truth is
he's trapped
a prisoner in the heated waters
of the shallow pools--
to leave would be mean
his certain death

some days I feel I am that snake
I dwell in my desolate wildnerness
unhospitable except for the small comforts
and I, like him
know limiting freedom

the pool where I live is the past, its memories
and also , too the new chronic physical pain
which, at times, traps all of my body
in its greediness

it is, for me
a very narrow pool from which I've not been
been able to escape

so, I wonder--
does this snake recoil in anger
like me
does this snake underate his fate and pain
like me
does this snake know
he has few if any choices

what are my choices
can I be braver than
this snake
will I leave
this desolate plain?

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LEGAL COPYRIGHT FOR THIS POEM 8.19.2019
AND ALSO FOR THIS WRITER MELISSA A HOWELLS
AND ALSO FOR THIS LEGALLY COPYRIGHTED SITE TITLE
MELOO STRAIGHT FROM HER TILT-A-WORLD