The gnawing in my mind Like a hammer striking a bell: Riding in an iron Balloon Buoyed in a noxious plume Dark tunic slowly yellowed in the flame of acrid gas Round goggles of the iron mask corroding Flakes of steel falling away Floating above a skinny caustic river Encircling winding channels Banks of concrete bleached by the sun Endlessly eaten By the current's maw Hard white lights sheen on the surface Where bridges collapsed The rhythm of my breath The wisp of a noxious zephyr And the steady flow of the stream below Are the only sounds
Out of green purple twilight A zeppelin comes from the east Propellers humming Flying behemoth with an Arcade of steel and glass Draws near Delivers my poison, and, My quaking mind vindicated lastly like a dream: Pass the lips 'ere the river of song into the chorus of the Wide golden shining sea Brilliant coral cascading in blooming rainbow jungles Dance of Life teeming Beneath the surf