What A Mango Did For Me Poem by Leslie Alexis

Once I slipped and nearly died.
Falling from a tree tall as the sky
whose sweet mango was almost in reach,
I found myself target of death's breech
and must have fallen for an hour at least
before stopping - branch below my feet.
Shaking I hugged the stem of the tree
so tightly that to let go, God had to bid me..

I felt like a young falcon on birth's cliff
whose feathers had grown and muscles flexed
but on flapping I could get no lift
and naive eyes saw one rock after the next.
On the ground I decided never to try again;
a flightless bird, I'll wait for wind or flood
to deliver food and if not I'll have my limb...
I'll chop it off and worms will keep me for sure,
For here, just like me, they'll have nowhere to go.

For days and weeks and months I walked like man,
Then one faithful moon, in the tree I saw a sun,
Shining brighter than all the suns shone before
and memory before that moment was no more
so I climbed faster than any monkey could
and when I bit in, it tasted so good that I
climb to this day, and the feeling is as if I fly.


Copyright © 2011 Leslie Alexis