Fever in Childhood (A Poem)

before the fall
i was someplace else
i remember eating starlight
the communion-wafer moon
burning through the center of me
i was microscopic

what i would not give
to feel grandmother's cool hand
the place is earth
the year is 1963
"you are not old enough to remember"
before she was born,
I am

know this, in fever, the leaves of
morning stirring
birdsong - a quilt of white ferns
a quiet burn
the night gone like invisible silk

her hand is pierced with moon
that's why so cool and white
an owl in the tree now
the day gone, like slow honey

"save your breath," they said
but she is my child again
in another time