Drujan

I am the eponymous hero
Given to a thirsting world.
Manna, manna! They speak with bristling hands
And waking eyes, all joy-stricken, and deceived.

I have delivered lark-kisses
In the seafoam surge of horror,
In the purple-embroidered night
With its diamond-facet stars.

O my Navigator, my scourgèd medicine,
Physick to my adulterous bonhomie,
Reigning, the tyrant
Over my withered iron empire.

I watch the water drying from
My jade-dog opium pipe.
Conqueror of life, the sacred fire
Burns once again in Persia's heart.

You were my gilded Auschwitz,
The death-camp of my past,
Tanning my masks into your flesh,
Beautifying your ligaments.

I hide your guiding illumination,
O brilliant Northern Star.
My compasses demagnetised
Beneath the westward grievance.
(finis)
Sunday, 3 August, 2008
9.33 Pacific.