EGG TOOTH

Maybe what is happening now

is Turtle Earth,

buried in its sandy brood

for too long,

is waking up again.

Maybe its egg tooth

has grown back.

Maybe it is chipping away

at its leathery shell

one more time.

Maybe the incubation period

has come to an end again.

Maybe all the chaos

and cacophony right now

is just Turtle talking to itself

like it does when it is time to leave

its underground nest.

Maybe it is saying:

climb, claw, dig.

Don’t stop.

Do not rest.

There’s no time left.

And maybe once above the surface and breathing

its first true breath in a very long while

it begins to crawl toward the sea,

toward the great water,

toward the moonlit horizon.

Only one in a thousand  

mature, survive.

Maybe we are the ones

in need of an egg tooth right now—

to free us from our own arrogance and oblivion.