Birth bought me a priceless misfortune,
In the chants and dances that welcomed me.
Men and women, red ribbons on each ankle,
Dancing around a sparking bonfire beside the sea.
Chalk-faced, feather festooned with fingers
Twirling aimlessly in the fading night.
Birth bought me a priceless misfortune,
In the rules and ideas that saddled me.
“Don’t whistle at twilight, don’t touch the golden python,
Don’t look between your legs at the waters of the sea.
The spirits watch over us. Honour their decrees”
But the spirits are genial. How sure are we they decreed all these?
Experience bought me a priceless fortune
In the findings that trailed behind me.
The earth loves to be courted by daring minds.
And the spirits applaud souls who seek mystery.
They’re more genial than human rhetoric has told,
And what answers there are, are rewards for the bold.
Experience bought me an unnecessary misfortune,
In the resistance that met me from my kin.
“You’re mad. Insane juvenile. How dare you meddle…?”
And I escaped, for my love had become my sin.
But in the eyes of my mother, I saw a whisper of hope:
“You came too early.” It said, “run and do not in darkness grope.”
