declarations----spring of last year

you used to wade in the brackish estuaries

you used to lick the resin from the trees

you used to be the desert

you used to jump and the milk in your belly became butter

you used to sing a song over and over

you used to have bark and branches

you used to perform for the wild animals underground

you used to feed the roots

you used to cull the fools gold from all the mountain streams

you used to fuzz all the newborn peaches

you slept in the hoof-prints in the snow