to crawl into your burrow to cover the entrance with brush no passers by should know where you are no predators should know this would be the moment to finally clench their jaws around your flesh it is entirely appropriate to curl up against the earthen walls to loosen the stitching that holds your chest together to shudder at the heat emanating from the exposed flesh to think oh was my heart burning this hot all this time it is entirely appropriate to unfurl your long bear tongue your forked serpent tongue your famished hummingbird tongue your spined lion tongue your serrated tiger tongue and lick and lick and lick soothing your own enormous pumping muscle scraping away ash gnawing away shadows while your own blood fills your mouth and you think is there anything i know as well as the taste of my own blood it is entirely appropriate all the licking the soothing necessary until your chest is filled with light again and it's finally time to tighten the stitching again and sleep and sleep and then wake the next day to yawn an enormous yawn and think it’s time now i can leave my burrow now