Testimony.

Testimony

The cardinal and jay appeared at the crisis--

totems speaking in low human voices, daggers dressed in winter's
rich coats, snow-trimmed, looking coldly at me.

To be a child in the eye of a blizzard, there is no center.

My friends were the only clear things--
classic and gemlike, immune to self-hatred, or the wormy sickness
accomplishment brings.

One angel, one demon,
they each took a shoulder, arguing my worth.

I sat down in the ice and divested myself of questions. Did I fear
for my life in those earliest years? Every day,
a voice answered, in every aspect.

Paula Bohince is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Swallows and Waves (2016).