Galatea

I shaped you of words, Galatea,
Of language malleable as clay.
I molded you, neaded you, pinched you,
Made you curvaceous--all--over,
Like me...

Then stood back and squinted,
Circled around you, chanted you, pinched,
Chanted, waited, pinched,
Waited...

Chanted again and squinted,
Repeated, repeated, repeated,
And polished and waited,
A yellow-eye cat,
For the last piece of puzzle
To find its own place.

I chanted and throbbed and waited,
Until like a swimmer too long in the sea
I grew numb to the waves,
Unable to feel anymore
How distant the shore, how deep the water.

I drifted away for a night and a day,
And came back.
Too soon.
Not yet.
So I wandered away for a year and a day,
And came back.

Then the last word appeared,
The glass slipper.
I had shaped you complete after all,
For without me, you started to vibrate,
The music and rhythm, they were in you,
And you rose on your toes
Ah! to dance.