Library Cocoon

It feels like a cocoon 

feels; although I have never 

been in one, I can imagine 

the walls feel like these walls; 

rough and drawn out, ahead 

of me. Pulled long in time 

and space before me, and 

as I move, behind me.

Ascending this brick tube 

to the rows and rows of 

stacked books; screams 

come from every particle 

of air, "This is sacred space." 

And "Look around you, O Man.

Measure your small stature 

against this stuff called history."

And will I sit here, 

nourishing myself as a pupae, 

my wings grow in silence, and 

wait to escape into the light.

5 October 1996