Ten

Too young to notice the transfiguration
of my flowered blue pyjamas;
too young to understand, had I been told.
Something explosive, unpredictable, inside,
that's how it felt — a weight at your centre
that stopped you from running free,
forgetting you were thinking.
An end to childhood's botched dream…
But time makes us used to so many things —
however unritualised
new meanings settle into our lives.
We are placed in the middle of a labyrinth;
slowly, we learn how to give birth,
make what is infolded, manifest:
heart and womb;
moon and sea;
in command/at the mercy.