Poem: Panther, Lion, Wolf

 

Panther, Lion, Wolf

 

under pitiless stars,

forlorn crickets, chirrs despairing,

i wandered forks in branches

though a thicket without hope,

spurred by a solace-lost pain.

 

witnessed, accosted,

moon-spotted within the thorns,

i had left the city’s squirming flesh:

a procession of shadows now,

slunk to mourn,

wilting toward circled dungeons.

 

and as they drained

through that vertical Grate,

crime by crime, sin by sin,

 eyes stabbed them from the dark,

blazoned as the six buttons

on the coat i had worn,

showier than all the gold

counted and coffered.

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7/22/24 ... 

6/1/24 edits

3/26... edits for clarity etc etc etc

Dantean theme from Canto I