The Terrors of the Earth

     The Terrors of the Earth

     “Discussing, between moves, iamb and spondee,

        Anacoluthon”  ~ Conrad Aiken, Preludes for Memnon, LVI

Wild Christ will have revenges on you both

That all the world shall — God will sear your things

Till charred they are.  You know not.  He is loath

To leave you two unpunished.  Blubberings

Of penitence are useless as the paps

Of Rimbaud if they tried to feed your son.

Your banishments are coming;  no collapse

Of justice—Christ’s nailed feet can’t be outrun.

They’ll soak up all your sins through holes that suck

The culpability you both would ban

From being licked up and then turn to muck

The love you thought existed, man to man.

..One claims his death with cancer of the leg.

….The other nods into an absinthe keg.