Serpentine

When that snake entered the garden —
home, community garden,
kindergarten, everywhere —
it squeezed the life out of you
in hidden corners, hushed quarters,
online and offline too.

You don’t know your beginning or end,
like the snake that swallows its tail:
old Ouroboros. Don’t make a fuss,
don’t tell anyone about us
while it slithers about you,
tightening its coils.