"I floated" "down in darkness" "among" "the other bodiless"
"people" "from the black train" "Heard" "their whispers:" "'I feel"
"so light so empty" "of heavy thought,' they said" "I feel" "so
unbounded'" "So we rode" "soft air" "like leaves falling" "but with
no notion" "of any" "ground to fall to--" "Then" "an old man"
"an old man's voice began" "to sing:" "'When the snake" "was the train,"
"when the snake" "was the subway, we" "entered her walking over"
"her long tongue" "her long tongue" "And inside her" "was red & white"
"& we looked out" "through clear scales" "Inside her" "was red plush,"
"was bone white" "was safe; and we" "rode her" "as she slithered"
"through the earth &" "its darkness" "through the earth &" "its dark smell
"We let" "the snake swallow us, take us into" "herself" "She had no"
"arms to hug us," "she gave us" "her whole body" "We were in"
"her whole self" "Safe in her whole self" "When a snake was" "our
mother" "When a snake was" "our train'"
-Alice Notley
