Music for the, Caged-dead
Music for the, Caged-dead
(Dead)
When worms have eaten from thy flesh
And no longer will songs help thee rest
On thy tomb crawls: vipers, toads, pests;
So shall your liar’s tongue beheld, sealed
From ashes burnt deep in hell’s tumult.
You have hours to consume, from thy tomb
Glories all solvent, now of oblivion.
Browless! Speak loud, so I can hear thee
Deep down within your dreadful cage
I hear the music for the deadwith rage;
Their heart is full of stillness, as they gaze;
Murmur their music of the caged-dead,
With a haunting battle-cry, dethroning.
Mute harps play shrewdly the banquet:
Silent gazes from the scattered skulls
Muffled light, spurn hearts, lizard-fear
It’s all wrinkled here in the grotto!…
(Witness)
I see in my dream-vision, silent clouds
Silent clouds, over head, with no sky
Only eyes, eyes, so many eyes
They turn to see me on their sides,
What stirs them so, I cannot say,
They fade and fade (away) in their cage.
(They Speak)
Said they to me: “Long we’ve been weary”
They claim there is no rest from strife and pain
Nor peace from the redly gapenights
They speak of roots winding round their cage
And dead flowers on some grassy tomb
Innocent in their death, so they seem
I notice the winds cover up their weeping.
Eternally: they wish they were sleeping.
(Dream)
Shadows now filled my dream, the dead fading
The in-descript formlessness of the dead
My mind free from them, and they from me
Ah yes! So many vaults in the mind
Filled with rainbows and darkness
Undiscovered mysteries, seas deep
Vines that stretch to eternity
Roots that storm Olympus’ Throne.
(Heaven)
When I woke up, the harps of heaven played
Twilight had a hundred shades of green
Souls gazed down from above the clouds
Tears had turned to sapphires and gold
And hearts renewed, their need for God;
Everything, even me, was comforting
The night had flutes and graceful tenderness,
And this was the end of my vision quest.
#933 11/26/05
See Dennis’ web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com
Tag: Poetry