Poem: New Birth

A poem about Leonora Carrington's The Temptation of St Anthony.

She looks to the future

Her cocoon a cowl

It curves around her feet.

You stand to the side

In a musky corner

A cat at your ankles

Like an egg, you think;

The wrinkles fine cracks

Her age pushes through.…

A softness inside you

The cat meows

Stretches to your knees

Like an egg you think;

You smile you reflect

Upon these wise wrinkles.

The cat meows

Scratches your leg

You think of death

Pushing through her face:

Our body its embryo

Birth its own extinction.