Leavings

Dissolution or distillation?
The lizard regenerates its form,
returns from the dead
wearing scales of shining golden light.

The lizard regenerates its form,
a temple of unprogrammed molecules
wearing scales of shining golden light―
an augury of things to come,

a temple of unprogrammed molecules.
Decay stops waiting to begin―
an augury of things to come―
visions, signs, omens.

Decay stops waiting to begin
its ending―testifying
in visions, signs, omens―
misremembered—an afterthought,

an ending, testifying
to a world that has resisted transformation―
misremembered, an afterthought
of layers turned inside and out.

In a world that has resisted transformation,
survival returns from the dead―
each layer turned inside out
in dissolution and distillation.