Revisionist Poetry – “Sabine and the Pythons” – Innocence, Courage, and my Sabine, v.2

My heart rose in me like a tide
when I watched my child before the glass—
small, bright Sabine, standing
where fear was meant to gather.

It was the reptile house.
The pythons waited there,
five living coils of muscle and scale,
their stillness older than language.

I feared for her.
I feared the sudden strike of instinct,
the cold weight of danger.
But Sabine did not step back.
She held herself with a child’s wonder
and a courage I could only witness.

Then the keeper lifted them
and draped the snakes across her arms.
Their bodies moved like dark water,
heavy, alive, astonishing.

And Sabine laughed.

Not bravely. Not performatively.
Simply, wholly laughed—
as if joy itself had found her
and chosen to stay.

In that instant I saw her clearly:
my child, radiant and unafraid,
a small flame in a house of shadows,
a light that would not be easily lost.