Once I was luminous, fast as light, rising. Now

I have cooled, and cannot shift this crust,

not even a crater to hold me. But I was not cast away 

for my own safety: a coiled Superman or Moses.

The midwife said I was a long baby, even when curled

(which caused my mother no end of amusement), 

but had she said ‘tall’ that wouldn’t have cut it at all, 

since babies are born horizontal on the whole. 

I continued to be long(-winded) all my life.