Lift Up A Mirror Poem by Felix Bongjoh

(i)

Lift up, O lift up
a mirror from
the shallow
depth of spring
crystal water,

tadpoles fighting
with my
sharp shadow,

a carved-out
breathing silhouette

buried on a floor
with mottle
streaks of marble
made of smooth silt,

a baby chicken
of me
hatched into life

from a sun's
yolky egg
splashing
its gold hue

to build the chick
and baby
of a bearded man,

a narrow shadow
flapping wings
on the spring's floor.

(ii)

Lift up a mirror
from a spring's
transparent glass

rebirthing
me into a chick
rolled off

a phoenix's
flamy wings,
cooling
in a cold spring,

a larva-rippled
body of water
sowing
life's seed

to spring back
into a tree
of a dwarf man.

(iii)

How pain weighs
down on me
like a boulder

licking
sword-tongued
cobblestones
in a drifting quarry.

Lift up a spring's
crystal mirror
from larva

with silver tails
of my scaly scars
weaving
the flying
gossamer spider

rubber-stamped
on a healing
wound
still fresh

with a scarlet
peacock
blowing
into my wounds
with soft

brushing
hands of sun-lit love
red gold finches
stroking me

with glistening
pillow palms
of a baby.