Imagine a snake who could talk
and not just talk
but draw on knowledge
of its early life with legs,
before the time of swamps
made them handicaps to be shed,
and the backbone became so intelligent
nothing else was needed.

A snake that patiently learned
how to grow a chemistry
far beyond anything necessary
to dispatch a mere rat,
not to mention the elegant hardware
to deliver from its special vat
the digestive acid to stun
and begin to consume the meal
before it was quite swallowed, must less
wiggled into place. The poison milked
by addicts in remote Indian villages
for the visions it bore.

What were the visions
of the maker of this potion?

What would you do
if such a creature were to speak,
and conversing unpretentiously
as befit its vast learning,
identified a tree with fruit
which would give you the eyes
to see yourself as you are
and said, “Eat”?