A Servant

One day he could not keep his hands

from the fine china he brought the king.

He saw a white snake in a white bowl

and ate. After that, he could hear animals

talking like men. The fish he put back

in water, the ants he stepped around,

and for the fledgling ravens who had fallen

from their nest, he killed his own horse,

cutting the flesh into strips they could eat.

Aided by the fish, the ants and the ravens,

he completed the assigned tasks and married

the princess. Then he was glad of the golden apple

whose magic could transform her hatred

into love and relieve him from the life

that once a man was born to. Still,

in this strict economy, the trade of good

for good had left his first betrayal:

and there was the dead horse he must have heard

begging for its life, a servant as he had been.

Now, though he is a king, he cannot bear

to let others remove his uneaten food.

He tells them stories of his first country

where the chirping of birds was only music.