Bright as the menace, Man brings gallant shadows for the golden idol.
We give a wicked turn for the fire, and jonquils for the Essenes, pillories for nay-sayers, squawking and gawking, bronze bottoms for the whip:
perched piety, an angel and a demon, I forget their names as they whisper petty prayers into my ears.
Countless and listless are the eyes that beam, Heaven- sent and Heaven-forward, the wanderlust leaving Paradise in shambles.
Bright as Venus, acid rain beckons all the saints left dim, a shadow bursting in the stratum.
We give wicked lies to the worrier: One night, near to waking, he tore the Devil's wings and traded them for daylight, bright as the gallantΒ Β menace.
and the God laughed, and then he cried.
Sometimes I wonder if jealousy will lay with empathy, equal halves to the other.
And I forget my name.
Forgetting piety, forgetting blame, leaving the vagabond, the lowlier child, to weep alone in his nakedness.
Countless and listless are the prayers of children, caught by the reign of night, gleaming silently, lonely and together in the stratum.