Uteran Cantos

I

Upstream we go little fishes
In Hymen's river of fire,
Carrying all where it wishes;
Choose to linger expire
On shores of fatal kisses--
Bloated bays of alluvial mire.
A warm eve of faithless stars
Veils what careless Ananke mars.

II

Asleep in the soft shell,
A broth of blood and spittle,
I hear the rush of every cell
Mumbling past like bubbling kettle--
Rounding full the drapes of dream's swell
'Til a cloud of shapeless figures settle.
As this strange sea lists
This gentle bark is banked in mists.

III

O splendid sea of suasive night
Cradle me in silken black!
O first fire closed to sight,
Obsidian bloom of hidden bract!
Unmoved by the absence of light
And kicking pricks of spurry lack.
Which hook wide eyes and pinch the gait
As against our brows limits grate.

IV

Tossed sea shaken by audible shadow,
Brow swept with waves' metred eddy,
Tremble as arms brushing limbs of willow
Shake off the apophany of touch unsteady.
Rock gentler when murmurs cease to throw
This sea and calm tucks in the canopy.
The salt-bitter foam ceases to billow
And I rest 'gainst the vault's vellum pillow.

V

Kick gaily lad and roll the fleshy sphere!
Bend loving ears to the Foetal cask,
A timorous finger press cries, "Here!".
Kick 'til midwife drops her grave mask
And lets loose ancillary fear.
Go to as whores revel in their task,
Further on the world of penury opes its legs
Asking each to drain their casks to the dregs.

VI

Too big for the sea, galley's beak
Stretching the flimsy veil.
Past Hymen's pillars steersmen peek,
Still the sea won't close its shell.
Earth-Shaker! Vainly you seek
To break her with shady vale.
Godly hands founder
Before the sea within her.

VII

Ashore in light I cry below
Heaven of terrible suns,
Girt with silver blade's glow,
Cutting what eye shuns.
Be it shores of burning snow
Crimson dyed where sea runs,
Past the splayed pillars
Pale under cruel stars.