Childhood - ASM, A.S.M.

Some ways further down the line

Separated by an ocean of time

We scan the land to zero in on crown hill

And behind the sleepy meadow and a single occupant

Of the sweet summer day catching rays in the jade stone

Many miles from home

I see bumblebees and butterflies flutter by

I see the sun smiling at me from the sky

High above the clouds, they remind me of

The wooly white curls of my best friend Mani

She’s my favorite of all the many sheep on the farm

And Dad says «her hair keeps us warm

And our bellies full of good food so we can grow strong

And survive any cold snow storm»

Cheeks flushed, sweet musk

The sun hanging high up in the sky and while the heat was

Habitually overwhelming this time of year

It’s the fresh young cub that comes home with the lions share

Here in the shade, cusp of the tree line

Beside the belko hedge brimming with lush ripe fruit

Infused with light salty breeze from the east

Joy rush flushing out his being through the leaves

Mmmm these belko berries taste so sweet

But I can’t stand the heat

So come on feet, take me to the river quick

To cool off and poke a few lizards with a stick

He hesitates, then thinks

I shouldn’t go alone

I know that it’s too far away from home

But I have to know what’s going on

I’m gonna leave the ranch

And snap off a twig on my path from a branch

He scratches his name into the dirt with the stick

And licking syrupy belko juice from his lips spells S.H.A.L.I.M

One of the two parting gifts she had bestowed upon him

That fateful night all those years ago

When she had knocked on the door of celestia and boro

Whom shalim knew as mom and pops

So goes the balance of the cosmos

Infinite improbability the second of the gifts glints through the canopy

And seems to pull him into the thicket

I wonder if the land beyond is different and scaring me

Like in stories old people keep telling me

I let myself be guided on a path

That I have never been before in my life

And I’m ecstatic like a bunny rabbit

I’m shaking and taken my something

Coming deep from within me

Suddenly a shadow that envelops him

He feels a trembling in his melanin

Towering beast from the mud takes shape

With the limbs of a man and a blood-stained blade

Unfazed, he thinks to himself

Wow, what a pretty cape!

But such a gritty face

He looks so mean

Like a monster I once saw in a dream

I better head home so no one worries over me

In the bush behind the meadow a child stands staring at the scene on display

Seven severed heads on spikes and the air hangs thick with demise

Inscribed in blood on the bark are the words «bangali arise»

In the distance the rush of the tide