Day 1

Dawn.
Slowly this creature,
    invertebrate,
     appears, born(e) from
the earth, eyes blinking
in the suddenly bright light.

He feels thirst
    for water, for
    adventure. There is little
around him, yet he knows
    where he is.

    In this past life
deep within the dirt,
    crunching rocks
     between broken teeth
and clinging to roots
he had been blind.

    Now the sun beat down
    like a sledgehammer,
his mucous skin shined
and in the light of his first day
he could finally see that he was beautiful.