#1247 - down as far as fear, obey

 

1247

1.vi.23

4.153

down as far as fear, obey

ekphrastic for Lövith Egon Marc’s 1987 Az első éjszaka (First night)

 

how very small our bible

you’d think it was full

but everyone fits in

 

some murder, a captivity, the ordered sacrifice

who hasn’t built their own prison as such?

 

very stiff these necks

words no one knows

these are the oldest tricks

 

someone has swallowed a whale

there’s a ladder

 

there are angels

and later, the saints

 

pile on the passengers

it’s like a train spinning wheels

 

some have always been full of light

and some are led to it

some away

 

there are thousands of years

to the secret place

 

old country, long lost

 

ambiguous promises

crimes to which commit

all round

 

and punished for some greater good

or say not so

 

these relatives of mine

 

I mean the human race