Transformation

I was born a gazelle.
Although my mother kept me close - her gaze was elsewhere.
My huge eyes followed her movements - waiting for a sign. Chewing the dry grass, her ears
flicked as she raised her head to acknowledge a distant danger.
In our twilight world I learned to be afraid.
Sleeping, I dreamed I could fly.

Later, I became a cat. My black fur merging into dusk.
Icy stars and a single moon struggled to find me. Delighted, I played, pouncing and stalking -
then froze to smell the nights offerings.
Sometimes, it was so dark that my green eyes were all there was.
If I closed them I was invisible.

To my great surprise one night while giving birth - I became my mother.
Even as I tried to hold on to what I had been, within no time, all that was left in loving memory were the stars.
In the silence of the night I opened the curtains and offered an unfamiliar breast to a searching mouth.

by Gráinne Dowling
13th October 2001