Song of the Earth and the Body

The Earth
hard and molten
water, tears
rock and ice
warm and cold
and flesh and bone
stench and sweetness
from the sunken caves of
our bedrock morals
spilling red of new auroral
The veil of light in
sunrise – sunset
covers and clothes
bodies reposed in
darkness
rich and ample
soft as fleece or
rough like the gravel--
grovel on the road and bed of the refugee--
holding – running – hoping – weeping – searching – running
scarcely resting
pushing back the gun shots ringing
running from the bullets reeling
people falling reaching slipping
waves of bodies crashing – crushing
into beds of sand and stone that sucks its treasure out to sea
beneath the surface our
hearts are beating
every single human body pumping blood
our necks are warm with rhythmic life
our chests are full of swallowed air
our minds are pressed with lines of thought
our eyes are filled reflecting light
our flesh feels out with drifting sense our sins
of self
and what we know
and what we keep
the waving sins
Promethean fire
and pools reflecting
vanish to vapor as you draw nearer.

Run.
I'm going to take your hand
and deliver you from evil.
Run.
Don't stop--
Hold on and don't let go
Run.
sweaty hands
slipping
people slipping
--don't slip--
people falling
never rising
You know you're dead but you keep on going.
You keep going.
You keep going.
Days and weeks
sleeping with eyes open
We do it again--
take my hand, little brother
and cross over
into safety

If I had the head of a hawk and the body of Cher...

You'd better watch out, Cleopatra.

I'm going to steal your kingdom. I'll rid Egypt of your tyrannical grin and set myself, instead, upon your throne, draped in scented fabrics and ornamented with gold and jewels. I'll trifle not with make-up. Rather I'll bare my naked face before all of Africa and before all of Rome and before all of Caesars. Eat your heart out, for my flesh is as pure and beautiful as the forbidden fruit of the garden.

In luxury, I'll suck the sweetness of the Cyprus plant and lie a while on top of the flooding Nile, spreading its glossy likeness of the sky across fertile fields. I'll bring the harvest from my bath, my breathing body a sacrifice to the gods of the pyramids--for they please so easily. Drink up, Horus, the hours of my legendary leisure. This isn't Isis, nor Ra, or Osiris. Eternity only lasts so long.