Monday, June 4, 2012

Freshwater.

I took a wrong turn at the Mississippi delta
And I broke into a family of alligator-men
Grinning like madmen
Down in their hovels
A voodoo goddess took my soul
Wrenched out of my skin
By her divine whim
On the mighty Mississippi

I took a wrong turn at the Nile delta
And I became bisected
One hand scarred and battered
The other bound in silver
Like jackals I tore at the flesh of the dying world
And the pieces of myself spread themselves about
Up and down the noble Nile

I took a wrong turn around Rome on the Tiber
And hero-like I turned to stone
Was flung into the tide
For my treason and sin
One day I'll join the holy men
And the devils and saints all dressed in red
Here floating down to the sea
On the turbulent Tiber

I am trapped here on the Indus river
Each of my thousand arms is caught
On a corpse
The debris, troubles being what they are
The detritus of war and famine and plague
And my bull horns and serenity avail me nothing
I'm floating upstream of the Indus
To the mighty Himalayas
To climb the crags with my thousand arms

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