Poem: “A Look in the Past” by Jared Angira

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A Look in the Past

Once I was a lizard 
cheeky and harmless 
and built clouds 
that the heat 
never could melt

I learnt
of the transanimation 
into a monitor
deaf to all spikes 
a dweller of two worlds . . .

ere my breath had settled 
my back grew rough —
my teeth went chisel-like 
. . . a crocodile 
lurking in sandy seafloor

then one day I died 
but knocked my head 
on the sharp gravestone 
that woke me up 
to find me winged 
tough-clawed and a scavenger. 
I was an eagle,

I went on sojourn
and my red eyes blue'd 
till I turned priestly —
pigeoned
till we came to Guernica 
where they pinched my olive branch
and gave me a bone

when next I stopped 
I was gliding
mutilated . . .
the mongoose pursued me in hideways

I shall go back
to the formless clouds 
and melt myself into rain 
then shall I land in the plantation 
and mate with the secondary roots 
of the old fig tree.

— Jared Angira

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