Fable

Inside of the coil the snail said to me,
'And you drank juniper and toasted pine?'
'No no you've got it all wrong,' I said.
'The moon hacked out my heart or was it the sun,
who carried the knife, did you see it
when it came out was it purple
and wormy and royal-gone-weedy?'

There was no answer, but behind the poppies I heard
the sun rattle the stepping-stones,
clatter against the tin roof of the garden shed.

I was still in that sooty coil when the rain
came, but nobody told me
about it, and it was too late, and when I finally said,

‘All right I’ll wrench myself away out of this coil'
then you know that's when the snail said
'Be careful,' and a girl gone so small
can drown in the damndest places.