From bleak nothingness a light softly spread;
In that simple beam new feeling is shared.
Silk worms have woven the gentlest of threads;
Bound by their strings, my body is bleached, bared.
A sapling or an egg that is not hatched
Timorous and dumb, revealing nature,
Fearful to fly without a net to catch
These downy feathers; take care and nurture.
This seedling bough might break, the babe disclose
The labour’s lost; they plucked and strummed and tore
A toughened muscle, chewed, and a skinned nose
Replay no groundhog day, that I implore!
Still, every creature must trust in themselves
To soar or sink; in light skies or black wells.
