Worm & Jaguar

author’s note:

I've learned the hard way that I can't guess what's inside someone.

I can't even guess what's inside myself.


WORM & JAGUAR

I don’t doubt
those stories
of shamans
shape-shifting
into jaguars

because I’ve witnessed
some astonishing
metamorphoses
myself--

ever see a man
transform into a worm?--!

But sometimes one must
crawl under a rock
and you can't get there
by being a jaguar.

Perhaps once or twice
or maybe even many times
you must become a worm
in order to realize
you're really a jaguar.

© 2011, Michael R. Patton
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