age 16
and he had moved into their thatched roof house
nothing but a white starch cotton shirt
a few paper bills
boy
age 21
he had a master and a mistress
bible in one hand
stick in the other
poison between their teeth like fine china shards
look like heaven, cut like hell
man
age 35
married
still living with the master and mistress
living a life, tail tucked between sunburned legs
a lifetime of carrying the poison from between their teeth
evolution
age 43
walking skeleton
the only time he tastes the sweet water
of his country
is in the black velvet of night
between trees
man becomes
animal
age 51
no more
as he walks towards the sun
starch cotton shirt
he is drenched in the dew of his ancestors
and the sweet rain of his homeland
old man, walnut skin, bent from the weight of the poison
but at least now
he has become a man
again,
free.