Poem: Panther, Lion, Wolf

 

Panther, Lion, Wolf

 

under pitiless stars,

crickets desperate of chirr,

i wandered forks of branches

though a thicket without hope,

ripe with antediluvian pain.

 

witnessed, blamed,

moon-luminous within the thorns,

i had left the city’s squirmy flesh,

a procession of shadows now,

slunk to mourn,

wilting into the circled dungeon below.

 

and as they drained

through that vertical Grate,

crime by crime,

 

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

Dantean theme from Canto I