Friday, August 09, 2002

hey here’s one that’s been

hey here’s one that’s been mouldering in my drawers for a long time…

SOLACE

Utterly alone he waits,
his muscles straining for the test -
he hears the laughter of the fates
the turmoil of his inner states
he reaches for his mother’s breast.

He stands at two-score years and five,
his socks he wears and nothing more
within his heart self-loathing writhes,
his mother is not now alive.
The saints and devil he implores.

His hands are shaking with desire
to nurse at peace is all he begs
impaled on a burning spire
he feeds an all-consuming fire
and wraps his arms around his legs.

His strength in prayer he has spent,
he sinks into a pool of fear.
He needed what despair has lent -
the cosmos now know what he meant:
a breast before his mouth appears.

No questions twist his hungry lips,
he is untroubled by surprise.
The world beyond the nipple slips
away, but he has come to grips -
in ecstacy he sucks it dry.