Thin roughened skin, skin with spots,

Black spots. Spots in my eyesight too,

Purple spots when I’m swimming,

White haze when I’m flying –

I’m a crane fly, I will walk through your walls,

I’m a bat I live in your rafters,

I’m a dog, I sleep on a blanket at the back of your house.

I’m a cat. I might sleep with you on your bed.

Old weathered skin, seen many years -

Years of snow and ice, burns and scalds and cuts,

Years of harsh sun, bright and burning,

Years of seawater, briny frothy salt.

I live once, some monk says twice,

We can guess many times, one to be born

and not yet one to die, I will wither first.