Human Snake (à la mode)

Once upon a time in a jungle

I, the woman, swallowed men and wolves

For breakfast or wrangle.

So why are they hurting me now?

Mother of past thought and future memory

Gifted with a brain to design, imagine, and compute

I dreamed myself into a curvy, desirable body

A heart so subtle it craves and causes pain to mute

Elixir, mating, and intoxication

I created for senses entanglement

I, the eternal dark remedy

And lucent poison

Now I became addicted to the scent of people-pleasing

A perfume drawing admirers and jackals nearby

Intimate monsters relishing as I desire the attention

Of my own reflection, eying for me to cry

Being fed to jackals reminds me I existed as a deer

Princess of wild things, hunted and helpless

I almost forgot my existence as a tiger

Hunting, versatile, and aimless

I thought my secret wounds would cease

Upon the absorption of a public death

I thought the pristine would be renewed

With sullied stillness

Before dark, legends prophesied my name would be Freedom

Disheveled, naked, creative, and destructive 

Howling, I would walk

Mocking what ends and binds with my protruding tongue

Now Poets who sing the invisible and mold matter praise me

Compose odes to wisdom, selflessness, and Beauty

Sing the awakening of serpents over their heads, spine or

Twinning along a cross or a tree

They praise me

I, the substance of life

The final alchemy

I used to swallow men and wolves

For breakfast or wrangle. 

So why are they hurting me now?

Now, I walk the Earth

My belly close to the ground

Weaving my soul to men, women

Hyenas , sacred deers, deities and 

Bromeliads 

A human snake

Limbless, still laboring

I am among familiar faces

Warm, or cold-blooded

I do not mate 

Neither do I devour

I exist for transmutation 

and self-clarity

I know 

I am a mystery 

To others eyes 

only.

Human Snake in a Pantoum

In jungle's depths, where darkness hides my way,

I, woman fierce, devoured men and wolves in strife,

For power's taste, I made the wild world sway,

Yet now they wound my heart with words like knives.

I, woman fierce, devoured men and wolves in strife,

Desire and power were my guiding light,

Yet now they wound my heart with words like knives,

Intimate monsters, in the shadows, hide.

Desire and power were my guiding light,

A curvy form, my dream, in shadows cast,

Intimate monsters, in the shadows, hide,

A heart so subtle, craving what would last.

A curvy form, my dream, in shadows cast,

The scent of people-pleasing, like a snare,

A heart so subtle, craving what would last,

In jungle's depths, I sought love, unaware.

The scent of people-pleasing, like a snare,

I walked the earth, a mystic girl in stride,

In jungle's depths, I sought love, unaware,

Transmutation, self-clarity, my guide.

I walked the earth, a mystic girl in stride,

For power's taste, I made the wild world sway,

Transmutation, self-clarity, my Guide,

In jungle's depths, where darkness hides my way.

Iambic Snake Imperfect & Unfinished

In jungles' depths where shadows hide my way,

I, woman fierce, consumed both men and wolves,

For power's taste, I made the wild world sway,

Yet now they wound my heart with cruel reproves.

With gifted mind that dared to dream and soar,

I shaped a curvy form and sought delight,

To taste love's elixir, my heart implored,

Yet found it brought both pleasure and sharp blight.

Now, drawn to please, I've lost myself it seems,

A scent that lures admirers to my side,

Intimate monsters linger in my dreams,

While I desire the gaze where I can hide.

From predator to prey, I've changed my role,

In life's grand dance, enlightenment of my soul.

© MURIELLE MOBENGO