Hadrian's Mausoleum.

The cause remains
Still.
But the voice has gathered tenor.
A strange cantus firmus.
Like influenza.

Now the proselytizers itch.
Because their hands cannot lift the poetry
That weakens them.

The pedagogy of pen
Is a wiry truth.
A ring for the finger
Who will be slave to it.

Allow yourself the burden of initiation,
The weakness of man
Becomes the manning of weakness.

But do not mistake this for poetry,
A mere fashioning of written word
No,this is the decay of soul,
A maggotry of self,
The unwooling of sheep,
And unfuring of wolf.

Carcassed in red.
Our fingers sway,
Like we had planted them in veins.

This is my Dillavery,
The bass of heart as it is caught in h(alf-b)eat

Come,
Taste the Earth on my palms,
Watch the passing of time in my vowels.
Bleed your curiosity on my grotesque,
N***a.

This is uncouth.
Unworthy of tongue.

But if you would count the rows of my teethThen you will find that not all sins are to be forgiven.
And not all sinners to be found.

I have lived long enough to know
That unless a man learns to speak to himself,
he will never truly master the tool of language,
So give me a voice not different from my own,
And let your retorts be the things I have coughed.

The serenade stands statuesque,
A rhapsodic mo(nu)ment,
Martyred in rain and dust.

Do not breathe.
Lest you mistake the inhale for
A sign that Air hath no better nest.
Than the watery graves of your chest.

Do not breathe.
Lest you mistake the uprising for
outpouring.

Do not read this like
It is something that will wait.
Read it in a hurry,
Before your eyes remember to blink.
And if this is the last time our paths cross this ghastly page
Lay me down with the rest of your ghosts,
Beneath the throats of empires.

The story of what we once were,
Now a distant hum of grasshoppers.

-JSL.

Reviews

[.]

~ i just looked up the title on wiki... and read about the place... i don't know the details of what transpired at a feeling level...

~ but i can feel the emotion in your words... and they are true in a completely different context too (my context)... because proselytizers are the same everywhere... i try and think that ultimately society evolves and all the bad that happens just happens to be collateral damage... but it's difficult to think of oneself as collateral damage... one feels like saying or doing something to at least register a protest... this "decay" of some "souls" inflicts such brutality... that one forgets evolution is the only reality because of blinding personal pain... but anyway... this is a brilliant piece... i don't know the original context but i read it as a personal experience... and found it very intense and overwhelming...

[KAOlmsted]

This is an interesting write...it is almost as though you are daring me not to find the worth in the piece...as though you are looking at me, rather snidely, telling me if I find any value at all in the words you've written I must be daft. *laugh* I love it. Clever. I enjoyed it, especially the word play, those parentheses. I like work that doesn't insult my intelligence. Well done, thank you for sharing it with us.

[Nick.B]

An interesting write with a great imaginary...great job

[Carolann Dowsett]

Very deep and thought provoking. I'm going to be thinking about for a while I think.

[mikl paul]

'I have lived long enough to know
That unless a man learns to speak to himself,
he will never truly master the tool of language,
So give me a voice not different from my own,
And let your retorts be the things I have coughed.' this stanza, yes.

[SHEEMA HUQ]

the whole poem is just exceptional, i thoroughly enjoyed every line, very well done

[Larry Dyson]

Rather amazing piece ,encompassing so much in theory..and thought that one read is not nearly enough.. I will post the 3rd read feelings in a few , right now I did do as the last part asked and do believe that is a relating to the entirity I will need. LAury

[Joshua Lean]

Why thank you,Sir.

[Joshua Lean]

And do share more of your thoughts.