We Burn Ourselves

A Poem by Prometheus

A sestina.

burn,

rebel:

Swallow down our snaking flames
Rising, rising brilliant--bolder than
Your mouth that vomits, that spits
Derisive wit and tired revolutions.
Your name is at last ours to slander!
To bruise below our system's fists.

so burn, rebel,

With the poor man's sullied fists,
In a wraparound of scarlet flames.
Shriek your petty banshee slander,
But a place much darker than
This Earth awaits you. To failed revolutions!
And a drink to hell! The fire lurches, spits.

burn, rebel

Whose creeds are what the Devil spits,
Who dared our distances with fists
And naked feet. You sparked revolutions
But you're dying now in flames.
Why then,
Do you insist on slander?

BURN,rebel

Ears will not commit to one man's slander,
No matter how aggressively he spits.
The system's voice shouts stronger than
A man's; bruises deeper than his fists.
So die! Die, delinquent, in these hungry flames!
We've destroyed your revolutions.

Burn, burn, BURN, REBEL

Stop your clamor! Your revolutions
Will not speak louder than our slander,
They will not rise against our flames!
Men, burn off the mouth that spits
At us. Tighten the chains around those fists.
His defiance dies tonight, in flames.

Then the rebel said,
The stubborn rebel said,

"If these fists make me a villain, then
I pity heroes. Flames cannot stop revolutions,
And slander cannot shut the mouth that spits."

© 2010 Prometheus

Author's Note

Do tell me if it sounds too repetitive when read aloud, but keep in mind that this is a sestina. Therefore, by default, it has to repeat. I don't want it to sound redundant though.

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^ formula for a sestina

See "Citizen" for my tumblr and dA.

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