GOLD FISH BELLY-DANCING IN A SNOW GLOBE

I flash enticement silver scales
Sway gold translucent tail-veils
Submerged in the glassy ocean
Eyes closed, mouth open
Blind, leaping high, kissing faith;
And it just won't matter at all:
If I fall, I fall;
If it should shatter,
I learn to crawl.

Some hand inside me or out
In the dizzy deep unclenches
Opens spilling out crystal dreams
A hand that grips the heart
Shakes me about, spinning
Dancing snow all around.

I welcome it all:
Flying high, giddy fall.
That hand may catch
Or yet another palm
Cradle that spinning globe,
Madly tumbling my world.

Let me tongue taste
Crave devour
That dizzy extremity;
Pain or ecstacy.
It is all the same,
It will not matter at all:
If I fall, I fall;
If  it should shatter,
I learn to crawl.

Manuela Cardiga