SNAIL

It happened in daylight. I was scared of dying. I stopped in the middle of the pavement. I raised my eyes and looked at the sky. I wasn’t thinking for that moment. I wasn’t there. I was safe.

A snail slithered onto my foot. I felt it. I felt my skin.
I could be fighting for my life in the middle of the ocean during a storm, and still know when a fish touched my toe.

The snail climbed right up to my chin before I realised I was standing there, frozen, in the middle of the street,
with a body that was already old
along a slimy track.