I need a second life,
for the traveling of roots,
the germination of passion
from the soil.
One life is not enough.
I need time
to grow among the rocks
and be like them,
have my own geology,
and race the glacier
at its edge
to the delta of the sea.
I did not know
how close birth is to death.
How huge desire is
above ending.
I have songs
that must be written,
dances that must be danced
among the willows.
I need to be young
to end.
To run in the tide
and drown in the earth.
Therefore,
celebrate my birth,
my new mother.
The day’s new beginning,
and let my heart go out
on the prairie
and be embraced,
horizon to horizon,
and be earth
shattered in the beauty
of creation.
A second life
to fulfill the first,
a second life
to house my beloved.