TAIL AUTOTOMY

Autotomy is the proclivity 
to sacrifice a part of the body 
to stay alive. The break 
must happen, the thrashing 
of the dropped tail 
a necessary distraction 
to divert the attention of a predator 
with a hunger for the savor 
of gecko, so the tailless 
creature might escape.

I know I tell you nothing new
when I say that hearts also break.
But whatever you do, don't stop 
to pick up the pieces. Get away!
Leave them where they lay
like a lizard's tail twitching 
in the dust. Let them 
be crumbs for the birds 
of love, always hungry
and looking for prey.

Be thankful you survived
and pant safely alive 
in a sheltered knot of yucca leaves
and prickly pear pads.
As you let go what's gone 
you find the imbalance 
of the emptiness you drag 
behind will somehow fill 
with new flesh and flush 
with a redder blood.

It's why we're here - 
to continually grow anew 
this appendage shed, 
our nourishment given to nourish, 
and then to venture regenerated
back into the world, to love 
whole and give up the stuff 
of ourselves to the ones 
like us, for the heart 
always hungry.




© 2006 by Richard W. Todd

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