glacier animal

by sabine harbeke

there you lie, cozily stretched out
inviting
natural
enchanting
i think
i’m not ready yet
looking is enough

your back
lightly ruffled

cozy
stretched out in the sun
you lie there
and you invite me
i-
soft,
softer than expected
i’m sinking into you
i’m surprised
but not afraid
i could drown within you
you could swallow me

silent-without flinching
me
like any other
like all the others
like many before
like many to come
and yet you don’t
not today

your back arches into the blue
your stomach lies on the rock bed
feasting on the smooth stones
that you tirelessly grind and scratch
as you wish

you draw with the pencils of time
leaving traces behind
gathering, saving souls
and harboring the dead

you stick out your tongue
wide into the valley
then you are fine
like a dog
panting
demanding
you
holding water
giving water

the sun is warm
you thaw
break apart
fall down
burying
houses
construction workers
animals
mothers
children

i’m not there yet
i’m not in the valley yet
i’m in the midst of your gentle touch
on your back
that waves
always curling
rippling and stretching
like the ocean, your big sister
who feeds you and feeds on you
that you feed
and feed on

and you move
quiet, oh so quiet
i stand still and listen
listen to the stillness of your flow
feel how you carry me
how you move me, ever forward
feel how i flow with you

now
you fold yourself and raise yourself up
jagged and furrowed
the adjacent rockface
rubs against you
tears at you
frightening
not in this moment
but unexpectedly soon

you roll your tongue up
pull it back into your throat
revealing the finely smoothed stones
your bed
you give away your bed
your smooth
tender bed
that no one should ever see

you don’t scream
you don’t cry
bit your teeth
withdrawing
loosening the rocks as you retreat
they fall,
fall loudly through the night, never ending
dark boulders
that make wounds and holes in your sides
you don’t bleed
are you whimpering?
your days are numbered,
you know that as well as i do,
don’t you?

you lick your lips
roll your tongue back
roll it back
into your mouth
into your throat
further back
into your throat
further back
back
back into your bright red stomach
back into your cold belly
and you lick your guts
to lessen the pain of death
and yet
it hurts
it hurts
irrevocably
with a clarity that shames

your claws, high up in the mountain
hold you
and yet
they begin to slip
searching for a grip
stopping
searching
slipping
they see
how your gigantic body
withers and fades
inevitably dwindling
dissolving
roaring loudly
show all your strength
pour yourself into the valley
into the river
into the ocean
united

once again

one last time