18

Nature and biology have played their cruel trick
your mind and body stretches, metamorphosis,
the invisible cord now mature, tightens, strains, snaps
and the bonds of your Pandora heart flies free.
Distant cultures beckon, new trusts call out,
as you wake to find your nubile fragility
once naked now armour-clad,
your materials stout, body strong, psyche driven.
One easy step from terra firma
you are launched amongst the clouds
re-born enveloped by exhilarating sensations
an urgent odyssey careering through space.
Forgotten, that lifeless discarded familial cord will mend
the daughter, parent, sister, brother line
now knotted with life’s emotional elasticity,
will stretch and breathe
to hold you the wife, your child, a partner, siblings
and the parents who set you free.

© Graham Sherwood 12/2017