They came crawling
From their fiery womb,
Dragging milky bodies
With puckered hands.

Slowly, they discovered their legs.
Wobbly and soft,
They were not strong.

Learning to press their feet
To the needle padded ground,
They slowly rose
One by one,
Stark like bone against the night sky.

They saw themselves in the trees
Little gold moons that watched them, unblinking
They were their mirrors.
They saw themselves,
They knew they were free.

Slowly, they stumbled forward
A foot in front, a foot in back,
And the flames reached out to pull them back in.
They did not see
They did not stop.