For Dante Alighieri

on the 700^th 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