When I was alive...
                         Eurydice

When I was alive—only glimpses,
moments of bliss but
always the body resisting,
refusing to let
the soul go.

                In that world,
I was a fish too eager
to enter the nets: here,
I'm a river.

                There, I was a bird
hopelessly searching for its nest;
here, I'm a wind that blows
where it wishes and needs no rest.

When I died, all Orpheus heard
was a small, ambiguous cry.
How could he know how free I felt
as I unwound the long bandage
of my skin and stepped out?

                                        From Orpheus & Eurydice, 2001

Copyright © 2004 Gregory Orr All rights reserved
from Folio
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission