koi (come)

on may 5th,
special day
i found my eyes again
painted on a silken fish
glorious round and golden eyes
and a body long as a fisherman's tale,
maybe longer
and the wind coursed through me
in its wayward wandering
and bade me breathe:
fish must swim to breathe you know.

such a powerful swimmer i could have been
but my circled jaws
had somehow snagged on string
and i hung suspended
(when the wind released me)
like a mere flag
a symbol of something far less flaccid.

there was a reason i was there
and a reason why my painted eyes could see
there was a story on that day
so many years ago
and somehow my blindness and the story's turnings
were tied to me
as tied to me
as i was tied to this clumsy flagpole
over a field in (now a man's)
once upon a time...