Ragnarok - XV
As haloed patriarchs, hewn from the stone Atop the arches, mid the cornices Where gargoyles grimace at the bitter taste Of dusty rainwater, watch heretics Self-excommunicated all depart, Stoic, still militant, and stony-faced Shed not one tear,...
Ragnarok - XIV
Varr broke the silence first. "You saw him, then. Our lord is yet alive. I had not dared To think the question, lest I should answer. But the Old Man lives yet. So lives our strength." Shane muttered quietly "Not he alone." And when they looked at...
Ragnarok - XIII
Where once the yearly snowmelt flood had carved A narrow serpentine defile, that poured Itself onto the plains until there was No more snow left to melt, now were there walls And roof, rough hewn and roughly thrown into A rude, windowless,...
Ragnarok - XII
Somewhere it was sunset. On the hills The last refractions of the scarlet sun Licked at the upper edges, like a flame About to catch on paper, but below All now was more than darkness, as the bars Crossed cruciform around a lantern wick Grow...
Waymaker
_"Thank you, my friend, for coming."_ _"He is safe? He found his way to you without being hurt?"_ _"He is unhurt. It is a dangerous world to walk in but he came to no harm."_ _"Good. He's already known too much suffering."_ _"What is 'too much?'...
Ragnarok - XI
Somewhere it was after midnight, when The long hours of the morning stretch ahead Sideways, so that they wider grow and can Contain more night and not take up more time. Somewhere a boxer wandered in his dreams Down streets abandoned, over bridges...
Ragnarok - X
Like a gazebo in an empty park-- Where silent is the playground, where the paths No longer feel the tread of shoes or hear The jangle of the collar and the leash, Where wild and weedy tend the lawns, and trees Grow forestlike and rough--where once...
Ragnarok - IX
Somewhere dusk was settling. The air Was stirring gently as one sleep deprived Whose body yearns so much to dream that it Rebels, and tries to slumber standing up Whenever and wherever mind and will Relax their vigilance. It moved the grass Upon...
Ragnarok - VIII
The dawn above the east was solid light From edge to edge. If all the sky were one Piece of soft paper, dipped into a cup Of melted luminescence, that light crept Up it by capillary tug, spread out Neon infection through the fiber sheet, Just so...
Shen's Song
If I had wings like Noah's dove I'd fly up the river to the one I love. I'd fly up the river. Wouldn't stay around Where I got troubles to hold me down. I'd say farewell, all my troubles, Fare thee well. I got no money for to buy my meal. Oh my...
History Repeats Because Those Who Write It Write Repetition
First they came for the socialists, and I spoke out-- Because I had read That Poem. Loved its pathos, Its tragedy, And its warning. They came for natives, black people, immigrants, refugees-- And I spoke out. They came for the poor...
Account of Presumed Ecstatic Experience during Initiation Rite in Unidentified Mystery Religion
It doesn't really matter how I died. Whether of time or tide or tiredness, But after this, the journey of my life I woke, to find myself in a dark wood. The way was lost, the night was long, and I Was more alone than I had ever been. It...