To begin ...

As the twentieth century fades out
the nineteenth begins
.......................................again
it is as if nothing happened
though those who lived it thought
that everything was happening
enough to name a world for & a time
to hold it in your hand
unlimited.......the last delusion
like the perfect mask of death

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

 For Dante Alighieri

on the 700th Anniversary of His Death

September 14, 1321

from A BOOK Of INFERNOS

 

noise no longer beautiful

pours forth from every corner

driving the fathers mad

 

the stricken mother

barking like a dog

(an image out of Dante)

 

babes exposed

to waves of cruelty

caged in the summer sun

 

I am the god of pain

the god cries

eager to resume his throne

 

no more a god

he is

than I or you

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