I could use a nap,
or a new incarnation.
Better feet, harder shell,
more patience, less distance —
maybe a tortoise
more suited to long crawls
over hard ground
than I have been.

This old world has asked instead
that I be more adept at flying
and transcendence because that’s
what is asked of every man these days;

so let me not be a man next time,

or better still give me freedom
from being altogether human
when later tonight
I dream.