Classic Poem

1

Assurbanipal loved me
He built for my love
A walled city
Thither he drove
The sun in chains
Fire, captives and slaves
And the Euphrates
River of paradise.
Half his heart was imprisoned
In the world-enchanted well
The other half devoured
By Assyrian eagles: thus
He loved me.
He was a storm
In destiny's hand he was
The axe that fell
On the skulls of kings
On cities and fortresses
Because I never could
Reciprocate his love
Trees withered and died
The Euphrates ran dry
The city disappeared
With its fires and ceremonies.
A stony rooster crowed
In place of it
Whenever the iron man
Returned from death kingdom
On his horse of rain and wind.
Through magic cities
Where high priests cast their spells
In their twilit temples
He looks for my face.
At the bottom of the world's
Enchanted well
He awaits my birth:
A gazelle that runs
Behind the chariots of banishment
In Assyria

2

Sold by the slave trader
Sick with love I dream
Of red carnations grown
In the Euphrates gardens
They cover my flesh that is haunted
By life and death
A bird of prey
Cawing its lonely cry
Dies in my depths
Its beak deep
In the bodies of things

3

The magician, poet
And warrior loved me
Offered his sacrifice
Built his obelisk
Where he recorded
His spells and the wafting
Scent of the motion
Of wind and stars.
Names he inscribed
Of flowers in my far country
He wept at my grave
Sprinkled the blood
Of a slaughtered child
And he kissed me:
I cried out naked
Held in his arms.
Submerging my tomb
The red Assyrian moonlight
Stained my hands and face
Turned my cheeks to rose
With black magic.
Blood began to flow
Into my veins
And back to life
Came nature once
Dead at the root
With thunder and lightning
Flowers from the sky
Of the world's night rained.
A hungry bird
Circled my nipple
The hand of the wind
Spread my hair. Keen
On my starting body it sought
In the garden of vision
A sapphire spring
A grove of fiery specters.
As I brushed from my braids
The birds he said:
" Ishtar, cypress
O Mother of gods
Of clear weather and rain
You who were born
In the bloodstream of earth
In the weeping of Tammuz
On the Euphrates
Tonight let us run
Away you and I
Over the mountains
Disguised as shepherds. "
No more he could say
Soldiers trampled him to the ground
And plucked out his eyes
And waiting for them
In the hall of mirrors
Combing his beard
And drowned in light
Was Assurbanipal.

4

They sell me into slavery
While I wait for my labor pains
In the cities of the East
Ravaged by whirlwinds

5

For the chariots of banishment
In Assyria
For the king of the world
For the green wheat ears for the sun
For the sacred bird
In the underworld prison
Beneath this enchanted mountain
For the ritual fire
For the body of earth raised up again
By summer's kiss
For the Euphrates
I carry these marks
The signs of my slavery.
In the kingdom of God
I wander
And in the kingdom of Man
Searching for Tammuz
Weaving a wreath
Of red carnation
For his head that was severed.
Sleep in a seashell
With pebbles and light
Silver fish and polyps
In the bed of a river
A deserted planet.
On tablets I carve
Prophetic deciphering
My prophecy tells
Of mysterious essences
Defeating death
And primordial matter.
Carving a prophecy
I embrace beauty and terror
See the eagle upon the shore
Straddle a doe
Assurbanipal stab with a spear
The sun that is setting
Captives hang from the gallows
Dim in the twilight
To the Lord of Hosts
A high priest praying:
" And Jeremiah said —
Princes and kings
Thus shall I let them
Be drunk and sleep forever. "
What then did I tell
To my death in slavery?
And fate: Whatever
Is hiding there tonight
Under the paw of the beast
Crouched at the gate of the unknown?