Metamorphosis

The irreversible change can be pinpointed
to a moment in time. I was twelve years old.
I knew I would grow up and none too fast
in my estimation. Time would creep by
though, as it does for pre-teens.

Growth burst into my life in the form
of a blade of grass I had picked up on
my way to my friend’s house. I raised
it to my lips, ready to exhale to make
the whistle sound I knew it would make
if I held it just right.

Instead of a blade of grass I saw
photosynthesis. I thought about the role
carbon dioxide, sunlight and water
would play in the growth of that blade,
how it would give off oxygen and that led
to thoughts of molecules and electrons
and the conversion process.

I looked up and recognized the chlorophyll
molecules in the meadow and flowers and Lord
help me, all the trees, too. I didn’t want
to see anything but the beauty all around me.
It was too late. I knew that my childhood
was over. I had taken one biology lesson too many.