Panguna

Grown in the grace

of the old shore's

malarial embrace.

Twist of her fate

and a passing storm,

I was bathed in streams of cortisol:

-- runs in the veins, flows.

I've been known to feel like I've been swallowed whole.

Sunken, raw, I'll only weigh you down.

Numb from the day I was brought home

to the island where the blood boils.

-- runs in the veins, flows

as something ingrained.

I've been known to feel like I've been swallowed whole:

born into civil war.