Catherine Zhu ‘15 v Poetry the day before i was born i dreamt i was a cicada risen from the dead, crawling up to the mouth of the river to taste the liquid sun. i saw mountains i saw starlight i saw my skin hung out to dry after a long summer’s rain. where i tried to sing i could only whisper. where i tried to breathe i exhaled & sank deeper. where I tried to fly I only folded into myself, letting the cocoon swallow me v 26
like the dead of night, & where I tried to love I lost, shedding layers upon layers of blood and calloused skin.