Replacements

Long ago I gave you      my country       its whole body     borderless

a mouth open     to your worlds     I gifted you these eyes        threw stones

into water          skip        skip          language and language       raisined together

for as long as         this new century       moored beneath             our skins.

What do you know         about a young girl         who watches       snakes

through gallery glass       who does not know     how to navigate        a world

without a shield       do you call her        present tense or         wildflower

do you call her            here and now                or stranger                   or both?

Has long ago become       here and now         this empire repeating      its adjectives

weighing down my tongues?         I gave everything      in return      for a home.

I did not get to             choose what was            replaced                or heavy

enough to sink.       There was silk once      before the girl       opened the cage.