FIRST PEOPLE
Michael H. Brownstein
Spring was not real yet, just a break from winter.
Mountain snow tumbled deep and wind carved
rock. We did not know rain. Then: a tunnel of light.
We came. We were curious and cold and light
enveloped us and made us warm. Earth broke
at our tails and light burned them white.
Then: here was a strange naked creature
standing on two legs with no hair on the face.
Yet they knew us and they caught us.
We did not know the magic in our tails.
Together the first people and we made a circle
and the mountains answered with spring,
then summer, and now we know winter no more.
