For our year-end message, the staff of Maine Audubon is pleased to bring you a reading of the poem, Metamorphosis/We Change, (inspired by “Flight from the City” by Jóhann Jóhannson), written by Samaa Abdurraqib.
Samaa Abdurraqib (she/her) lives in Brunswick, ancestral land of the Abenaki people. The land around her inspires her to slow down, to write, and to explore with reverence.
She has graciously granted us permission to use her words of beauty and hope. As we bring in a new year, we are open to the change that is possible.
Her poem was inspired in part by the music by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannson, and performer Evan Handyside granted us permission to use his recording of the song.
(Note: This video will play on YouTube. Make sure your YouTube settings are set to Quality: 1080p HD for best performance.)
Metamorphosis/We Change
–inspired by Flight from the City, by Jóhann Jóhannsson
Slow motion past what’s familiar.
Towing only what’s needed
for breathing, for being, for surviving.
Awaiting weightlessness and
an ease of constriction.
Remembering the sun and the moon again.
Remembering what came before the glass and the concrete again.
Slow motion towards a metamorphosis.
Trusting the knowledge of the senses
to understand, to learn, to experience.
Present for transcendence and
a cellular renewal.
Reuniting with rhythms again.
Reuniting with expanse again.
Trudging up and alongside slow erosion.
Hands open and ready
for receiving, for making a way, for taking hold.
Anticipating the fullness of this journey and
opening to the change that is possible.
The fourth generation
of the monarch
makes its way
out of the city
and into different lands.
They know how
to fully live
into the beauty of
their metamorphosis.
