the pawn shop of cosmic redemption

It came in a whirlwind Some summer storm And landed on the power line Right outside my bedroom A snakeskin Draped over the wire Shimmering silver, scaly What could this mean? I asked myself, and the Internet which said Transformation and Wellness Oh, that sounds good, I thought That's just what I need But I didn't know Exactly what shedding my old skin Felt like, until scale by scale The old form removed And the transformation occurred Now that snakeskin Is literally moving on down the line I don't know how, or why Probably the wind But maybe some universal magic Telling me Girl, you did it You were brave, You shed that layer. I look out my bedroom window Each morning, every one A miracle of light See where the snakeskin is, See if it is still out there Or if this season has passed And I can settle in To my new skin

We didn't know we were happy, of course Because humans are like that But we were happy Drinking wine on the front porch as The sun went behind the trees, evening Came on, night fell We found things to bitch about From lovers to politics to mosquitoes But our glasses were full And we were happy We were happy back then, That first day of summer When you kids would hold hands To make that first leap into the pool The green mountain watching us Love everywhere But the days passed And times changed, and We changed People got sick, got jobs, got married This is what happens too Because humans are like that Looking at what is next instead of what is And the mirage of happiness Always remains distant, somewhere Down the road, or a fading memory We don't know how to hold on to it Even when we are in the thick of it Even when we are surrounded by it All the beautiful moments Times we are happy Someone I love once told me "I don't believe in happiness." I couldn't understand what he meant. But maybe now I know The illusion is as real as it will ever be And if you need to hold onto something To believe in it You can never be happy

I knew I would find it In the bottom of a bottle The message Or at least some genie that would make my wishes come true. I kept looking Opening one after the other Getting to the bottom—