Catholic Poetry by Pavel Chichikov: "The Shoulder of the Sun"

This page is dedicated to Pavel Chichikov's Christian epic poem "The Shoulder of the Sun." The poem is a work in progress. Current poetry by Pavel can be found on www.erols.com/fishhook and on CatholicExchange.com.

A new book by Pavel, Mysteries and Stations in the Manner of Ignatius, is available from amazon.com or from the CIC Bookstore. See Benjamin Ludwig's review of Mysteries and Stations on CatholicExchange.com!

Lion Sun: Poems by Pavel Chichikov, published by Grey Owl Press, may be ordered from amazon.com. 

THE SHOULDER OF THE SUN

A farrier at the horseshoe beating -
'No one rides these beasts just now
Except they ride them as a hobby,
Status sport, police, for show

'But here's a mare I'm working on,
A gelding's at the stable door -
There, the light is streaming in -
A last nail here to drive before

'You mount the gelding - then away
To see the world - you just look down
And let the landscape flow beneath you
Don't let the running scare you - pray'

He drove the last nail, dropped the leg
And soon he'd saddled up and held
The placid gelding still for me
And up I went - the horse ran wild

It bolted through the open gate
Leaped the paddock then rose up
Above a line of maples, straight
On and eastward, never stopped

Till wind along the mane was pouring
Covering my eyes, but then
It calmed a moment as we passed
Through damp deep cloud, blew on again

I leaned to one side, dizzy, saw
The sun keep falling, street lights wind
Themselves around the silent houses,
Across the shoulders of the ground

The land went rippling by, alive
Rising, falling with two breaths
Of light and smoke, as if respiring -
We above and dusk beneath

Behind us roared a falling sun
Ahead two planets, one was Mars
The other bigger, Jupiter -
Around them were the dancing stars

Run my chestnut, run my gelding
No rein can keep you in or tame
Your impetus, no hesitation
In your stride, go in God's name

But where in heaven's title were we
Now so quiet, tepid cold
Not cold enough for such a height -
Where is the Earth's face manifold?

The chestnut stopped and I dismounted
Dropped the reins - he grazed on grain
That fell from warm condensing clouds
Like oaten pellets dropped as rain

They pattered down and then they ceased
A field of darkness, dense and still -
I heard a voice imperious
And yet conceding to my will

'You've come here sometimes in a dream
But more awake than in the day -
Now I tell you - stay awake
Though in a sleep you seem to be

'Do not withdraw until I give
Permission, though you're free to go,
The horse will take you when you wish -
Wake or sleep, ride high or low

'There is an era to begin
More quickly than this horse can run
Now oncoming from the east -
See the shoulder of the sun

'Mount and ride, mount and ride
To meet the new sun - light ascends -
Now throw your leg across its round,
Vault it where it burns and stands'

'But how to grip the stamping sun
Or strap the girths and reins of fire?'
'You must ride the burning One
If ever, human, you ride higher'

'Are you the voice of God, great One
'Who calls the horses of the night?'
'I am an angel of the suns
A groom of His creation, tasked

'To pull the tangles from their manes
And catch the sparks before they burn
Black craters in the parapets
Of time and space, and singe the plains

'Now climb, I say, climb up and catch
The stirrups with your leather toes
And leave the gelding here to me
So I can keep a careful watch'

I leaped and gripped, was not consumed
Or blinded by the sun's long hair
Which leaped about my head in solar wind -
I lived and saw - a veritable grace -

How radiant around me and below
Me shone the crystals of the ice
The pure and weightless clouds like snow
Immaculate and young as paradise

As soon as I had settled in my seat
And lived, I say, as though it were a grace
And not a temporal and worldly consequence -
It burned no more than golden August wheat -

We started off, an impulse powerful
Yet smooth, unwandering, and firm
To keep a steady orbit, yet was free -
A river far below was like a worm

'Where are we going, Brother?' so I spoke
To this uncanny sun, and it replied
As if there were a knowledgeable mind
That lived and knew its whereabouts, inside

'Why, to darkness, where else should a sun
Be destined for, hold on, His will be done'
And then I saw the borderland of night
Come swiftly to the edges of my sight

The dome of dark held back the light
That spread round us in our solar flight,
A wall sealed up against all clarity
And mental vision, Jesus' charity

Then we pushed through and found ourselves on Earth
But night before, behind us and above, no more
A peaceful city landscape, and the fields
That I who rode the gelding saw before

Were gone - instead a ruin all around
But not so much a ruin as unease,
And shabbiness of peace, walls unsound,
Tall battered dwellings scaled by some disease

They seemed unlit, uncared for and the folk
Were sallow, loose of skin and slow to move,
Looked sideways, downward as they passed
Along brick-littered streets - they had no love

The sun itself, on which I rode, went dim
As if light here were sluggish, frail and slow -
The city seemed a conquered one, not calm
But on its way to hopelessness for all I knew

But not yet there - we slowed and stopped
'I will leave you here' said Brother Sun
'No don't, I said in panic, 'I'll be trapped
In this deep place, this rubble of a slum'

'Dismount,' said he, 'I will not take you on'
And so the light dissolved beneath me, left
Me standing on a city street with broken
Curbs and heaped up boards of slate

And there was I, the greyish city moped
Around me, faces sour and deprived
Of all anticipation of a change
Walked noiselessly along, barely alive

They would not look into another's eye
And felt their way along the street to find
Where they were going - were they blind?
No, it was suspicion and hostility

On the dusty street I heard the drum
Of wind and saw white scraps of paper
Blow fitfully, loose bars of iron hum
Against their fittings in the window frames

I entered one low doorway, found inside
A narrow hall, a flight of steps not far,
The flats and risers broken and not wide -
But I climbed up as quickly as I dared

Flight by flight I found blank doors, I knocked
On some, though others I passed by
And though not one was opened still I saw
Through several small peep-holes, dumb, one eye

So there were tenants here, at least so far
In some of the apartments - then a turn,
A landing and an iron gate ajar -
A furtive face peered out and muttered: 'come'

It was a young man muffled in a coat
Who stepped aside, then handled home the bolts,
Shut the door behind me with a dozen clicks -
The first thing that I noticed was a crucifix

Where bleeding Jesus hung, or no great size
And something in it singular, I couldn't name
What made it so peculiar, then it came
At last to me, the corpus had no eyes

The room was barely furnished, broken bed,
A board on bricks that held a few old books
A broken table propped against the wall -
The man unshaven, pale and underfed

'You're from where?' he asked me, then he sighed
'What difference does it make, from here or not
Nobody is safe from them, to hide's
Not possible, but if you can get out

'They'll be here any moment, and they find
Our hideouts by the signals of our minds -
The chances of surviving's less than slim -
They can see us hiding here, not Him'

Bitterly he pointed to the cross
'He saved us for eternity, they teach -
The living know in silence what they've lost
The dead ones have eternity to preach'

"Who is it you're afraid of, tell me where
Can they be coming from - thin air?'
'We don't know who they are but they can take
The sun away, kill some, the others break

'A lot of us go missing one by one
The city is diminishing, and no
One knows who's going next, it's done
And nothing can prevent them, keep them out'

'But who are they - outsiders? - are they armed
Invaders from a foreign country - thieves?'
'No one knows the answer, friend,' he said
'But we go up in smoke, like burning leaves

'No one's ever seen them, yet we feel
Their presence in our terror and our will -
No one knows what happens when they steal
Me or you - or God invisible'

Just then in a moment, as he paused
He leaned intently toward the door - 'they're here,
If you make a sound or if you don't
They'll catch you, full of courage, full of fear'

He shuddered, turning sallow, then relaxed
'I'll show you what they've done, please follow me'
Unbolting all the locks he led me out
Another door was open, swinging free

We entered in a hurry and we saw
No one there and violence in the scene,
Dishes broken shards, the table smashed
Clawed gouges in the floor, as of a fiend

'And yet I didn't hear a sound, did you?'
I asked. Dejectedly he turned -
'There's never any trace, they disappear
Entirely, they might as well have burned'

'Move' he said, 'they've come and gone
But they'll be back to get us yet'
We turned to leave but as we did
I smelled a burning cigarette

Or was it something else I smelled
Now distinctly heavy - fire?
A burning acrid chemical -
Insulation, rubber, wire

'They've been next door - too close - let's go'
Out we rushed - the corridor
Filled with foul haze and he
Drew me by the wrist - next door

Another scene of terror, weird
Runnels in the floor - we feared
To enter too far in, also
The smoke was getting thicker - low

So far but rising toward
The level of our faces, eyes
'We're out of here, the stairs,' he said
'But if they're blocked we die'

We ran, the corridor stretched out
Longer than I could recall,
Confused - was this the narrow hall
I entered not too long ago?

Smoke was rising, panic too,
We started running, should have come
To where the stairs descended
To the outside - and the sun

I prayed 'Jesus get us out of here'
The word rose to my lips,
Out of smoke and darkness there appeared
A hollow in the smoke, and then, the steps

Rushing now, a crazy dance
Gasping, spinning on our feet
Till we reached the entrance
Saw before us now a different street

The city had been great, but battered, worn
I'd seen that from the air and understood
That something in its destiny was wrong
Now much worse, in fact, from where I stood

I saw in long perspectives rising smoke
The glowing hoods of flames that brushed low clouds
And turned them red - then my companion spoke -
'Can't you hear it whimpering aloud?'

'The rubble of a city?' 'Citizens,
The human flesh that makes a city live
Is suffering, and I can hear it groan
Above the grit and soughing of the winds'

He walked away, I followed, but he glanced
At me and warned me with a glare,
Threw up one hand and motioned me to stop -
'Better to be separate - go there'

He jabbed his thumb behind him, then he stalked
Away with angry strides, left me
Dumbfounded, till he disappeared, then I
Spun on my heel - and as had he, I walked

From there, and found a lengthy boulevard,
Walked what seemed to be about two hours
It must have been perhaps ten thousand yards -
A little less in meters, by my guess

Debris and towers leaning, burning walls
Streets constricted by the fall of those
And people in the middle of the street
More and more of them, in dirty clothes

I saw a scared defeated populace
No fight, defiant rage or toughness showed
And then as though the mobs had coalesced
Crowds forming, bunching up in nodes

And over all a lid of fearful menace
Not so much a vision but a spirit
And something pressing down, a morbid weight,
Unbearable, a pressure on the heart

And as I walked this thoroughfare I peered
Sometimes to the left or to the right, down
Smaller streets debouching from the side -
It was the same, destruction and the fires

But once, far in the distance, saw a horse -
The sturdy gelding was it? - so I thought,
It looked familiar though a silhouette
The way it moved, tight-jointedly, unforced

Against the growing dimness saw red sparks
Fly up from its feet - with hope I followed,
Thinking of its mastery of space
A way perhaps of fleeing from this sorrow

But never drew much closer - as I crept
Within a dozen yards the beast removed
Or dwindled in the distance in effect,
And stamped the glowing sparkles with its hooves

So then I left off hoping, and I felt
My way back to the boulevard, the gloom
Was getting thicker and the smoke
Made solid outlines waver, seethe and melt

I came upon a queue, a line that stretched
Along the road, a hundred folk or more
Stooped in hopeless misery that fetched
A blankness to their faces, apathy

I felt, without awareness verified
By evidence, or gossip ( there was none)
In this silent gathering, yet knew
By sympathy - the people terrified -

That all were doomed to slavery, or worse
Captivity was close upon them, near
As fire to their foreheads was - a weird,
And nameless, overwhelming fear

Their relatives and friends already gone
Vanished in a dreadful mystery
Vanished in an instant, violently -
Taken by a force that none could see

In one small group I saw a refugee -
A man both gaunt and weathered in the skin
And yet not old, and with the deepest look
Of charity, compassion, empathy

I also saw two children, small and thin,
Lost except for brother-sisterhood
And no one to take care of them, alone -
They were alike in feature, of one blood

I felt the deepest pity - scared and hurt,
Helpless were these little ones, these strays,
Their given names they said were Flora, Rob -
I thought I heard the magic gelding neigh

As soon as I took each child by the hand
And led them off to safety, so I hoped -
Of parents, friends or guardians were none
To speak up for their safety or command

But only words and mutters about how
By instinct or by rumor all these crowds
Had gathered in their line-ups, made to wait
Until their destiny would be announced

By those who were the masters of this town,
And by this devastation took it down
Yet were still invisible - a dread
Of what could not be seen or limited

Froze these people into servitude -
Terrible passivity their mood.
So now we walked away from these long lines
Of people damned and doomed for not one crime

A city park - we climbed a wooded hill
Then caught our breath, astounded looked around -
The city showed its grievous, mortal wounds
Burning rubble, crazy toppled mounds

And as we went anxiety increased
As if this great destruction were the least
Of what we had to fear - I weighed
The peril of our very souls - and prayed

As we went up a broad and brushy slope
The panoramic devastation spread
Around a lurid circle, limited
By flame and smoke, a true infernal zone

We all looked down as if by instinct then
Saw what seemed a shrine laid on the ground
A circle made of sticks around a flower -
A strange and unexpected thing to find

A little sky blue flower - 'That's a squill'
Said Rob - the child was twelve, his sister six -
Flora took him by the hand and pulled -
'Come on Robin, it's some kind of trick'

But he leaned over, was about to pick
The little bloom when she reached out to him -
'Someone left a message, leave it be'
But Robin plucked the flower from the stem

All at once a massive cloud took form
And shut out every particle of light
Smoke as dark as midnight in a storm -
But then the darkness lifted up, somewhat

Now we saw a climber drawing near
The sympathetic, weathered man I'd seen
In one of those extended speechless queues
That stood at the disposal of the fiends

I saw that Robin held the flower out
Inside his palm, the little azure wheel
Spinning, as it seemed, inside his hand -
Illusion or reality - unreal

'My mother's' said the fellow, and he touched
The remnant of the flower with his thumb
Held down against the child's extended hand -
The three of us confounded and struck dumb

Then he clenched his fist, the squill was gone -
Flora said 'He put it back, but when?'
'Or someone did' said Robin, stupefied -
We saw the bloom still growing on the stem

The haggard man stood still above the shrine
Then turned away - his lengthy stride elastic
Strong and sure - his strength had not declined,
Though hell had broken loose to play its tricks

'Come back' I shouted, 'don't leave in a hurry
, We need someone to find a sanctuary' -
'I am the one you want,' called back the man,
'But I move fast, so follow if you can'

Lightning snapped through darkness come once more,
The supple man had gone and we peered after -
Close by spoke a voice and someone cursed
And we were blinded for the moment - laughter

Peeled around us, then we heard the rain.
Urgently, we hurried to keep up,
To find the lanky figure in the dark
And wet, but we went hastily in vain

Rob and I jogged on at double-time,
Flora on my shoulders - day eclipsed -
We knew without a word he was our chance
To find an exit from apocalypse

Lamed and out of breath and fearful, so
Along the ruined streets we searched for him -
Once, distantly, a vision of a man
Caught within a burning building's glow

Then gone again, where was he? All dead beat
We stopped - we needed rest, something to eat -
Worn and nearly famished - out of breath -
Too puzzled now and faint to think of death

We found ourselves alone, when suddenly
Movement in the darkness and the sound
Of horse's hooves, the creaking of its tack -
The gelding came up to us - on its back

The man was riding, in one hand he held
The purple flower - on his face a look
Of steadfast kindness, gentleness and strength -
The azure petals spun - became a book

He held the volume by its bottom edge
Leaned the slanting cover on his arm -
The cover shone with gold and cabochons
Of rubies, amethysts and emeralds.

Opened to the middle of the book
It spread out on his shoulder like a fan -
The page within was gleaming with a sun,
Ivory clouds and azure sky - the man

Reached in - there was no picture there
But space itself, a universe, a sky
As deep as any I had ever seen
On Earth - if so then tell me, where was I?

He spun the book again, and in a blur
It closed, became a flower, small and blue -
Leaned toward little Robin, touched his coat
Then turned away - the gelding rose and flew

The others gaped, but I stared at the coat -
The sky blue flower glimmered there - I thought
It was a sort of passport or a badge,
A token of identity, hard-bought

Our friend was gone - I thought he was our friend
And yet he'd gone, abandoned us to seek
Our safety somewhere else - Who would defend
The three of us, the children small and weak

And me, uncertain where to go, or what
Would nourish us, conceal us from the foe
Who ruled this wasteland - aimlessly we searched
The streets - the children meanwhile told me how

One morning early Sunday they awoke
To find their parents gone, an empty bed
And nothing in the street but fire, smoke -
The neighbors all converging in the street

To wait for God knew what - they were compelled
As if by instinct like some homing birds -
And as we talked and looked ahead, beheld
An open door, a light within - we heard...

The rasping of an iron file on horn
The farrier looked up - 'I know you all,
And as for you' - to me - 'what took so long?'
The gelding stood beside him near a stall

It was a lengthy, warm room - golden straw
Piled up high in bales, it paved the floor -
There was a lantern lighting up the scene:
A golden cell, all dread outside the door

Safety, warmth - the farrier threw down
His rasp - he was a man of middle height,
Clean shaven with an ivory shock of hair
His face was brown and wrinkled - full of care

He wore a leather shirt, and on his sleeve
Were nails of some bright metal, fixed in place
Invisibly, they seemed to hang in air -
He could retrieve them freely, at his need

As we were soon to see, but now he paused
And dropped the hoof, long moments going by
Until at last he laughed (a hand against
The gelding's rump) with loud hilarity

At last he stopped: 'You're safe for now, you three,
But Lightning here can only take one rider
Even if the rider's delicate -
That's the rule - but why, they don't tell me'

I and Robin had a single thought:
We could lift Flora up - she'd ride the horse -
The little girl would be our gift, survive
To tell the outer world we were alive

And maybe bring us rescue, or at least
She'd be a precious token, love released -
'You hold the horse, I said, I'll put her on'
But when we looked the little one was gone!

'I'm sure the child is close' I said, 'I know
I took my eyes away, then instantly
Looked back again. She must be in the room'
The workman shrugged and said: 'I don't think so...

'The puzzle of the rooster and the fox'
The farrier picked up his file. 'She's gone,'
He said, 'no doubt about it, as for where -
The doors are open, nothing here is locked'

While we searched the place he trimmed the hoof -
First he used a file and then a knife. -
Bright nails in the corner of his mouth
He found a shoe somewhere - it flashed like ice

'If she's not here I'll find her' Robin cried.
'Hold on,' the farrier told him, 'not so fast -
I think she's safe for now - the darkness hides,
And something horrible is going past'

We hesitated, looked round for the place
We'd entered from, a curtain made of shadow
Ran around the edges of the room
And sealed the entrance up without a trace

'No locks, but a person has to see
To walk away from here' then calmly he
Clenched up the gelding's hoof against his thigh
And hammered in a nail - I felt go by

Outside the room the shudder of a tread
'It is the column of the living dead -
The enemy is going to prepare
The final battle ground of earth and air'

'But where is Flora?' Robin shouted. 'Wait,
There's nothing to be done until the gate
Of judgment opens and the fight begins -
And who's to know which strategy can win?'

'A little girl,' said Robin bitterly.
'Effectives come in every size and shape -
Now here's a gelding horse, ain't he a honey?
Once I shoe him up you can escape'

'Ride yourself' said Robin, 'I won't leave
Until I find my sister - damn your colt'
A spat-out nail collided with the floor
And detonated like a thunder bolt

'A flower's in your coat' observed the smith.
We both had finished jumping at the crack
And dazzle of the detonating nail
He'd spat against the floor. 'I'll give you back

A treasure for the flower on your coat -
It's yours, I guess, a real one, not a fake?'
Robin stood away and touched the bloom.
'Salamander gold - a fire drake?'

The smith went on, while peering at the bloom.
He turned and clutched a rope above a fire
Pulled and pulled again and soon a blaze
Ignited in a furnace then leapt higher

He rummaged in his coat, removed some dust
Threw it in the flame and pulled some more -
The red and yellow changed, became a rust
Then white and black - the fire lost its color

Heat increased, we hurried to withdraw
Against the wall of hay, we were afraid
The straw itself would smoke and then ignite -
'Relax,' he said, 'we'll look, and then we'll trade'

He thrust his sooty hand inside the flames
Then held it out - the palm unsmutted still -
A beast I'd never seen before lay there
Grey and smoking from the crucible

He knocked the ash away, revealing black,
And then along the sides of it we saw
Blossoms as if made with golden lac
Or powdered gold had sprayed out from a straw

'That's for you my boy.' He held it out
So Robin could inspect the artful beast.
'A magic salamander for a pet -
It's worth a little flower, at the least.'

The salamander twisted in the air
But Robin backed away and shook his head -
'I have to find my sister, now or never -
Your salamander's handsome, but too clever.'

'Clever, do you think?' the farrier said
He held the salamander high and then
Passed his hand above the gold rosettes -
It grew, expanded, glowed into a sun

Lifted in the air - it was the star
That rises in the dawn, and then projects
The shadows of the evening deep and far
Across the meadows and sleeping groves

And all about us grew inside this room
An atmosphere of purest blue, the chrome
Of yellow sunshine touched and made us warm -
No living dead or ghouls could do us harm

But then it faded, fell away, a spark,
A wreath of smoke, then darkness in the dark -
The room returned to vision as did we -
The farrier, the faithful boy, and me

'Good fellow, Robin,' said the clever smith,
'I wouldn't take that flower as a gift -
Keep it on your jacket, keep it safe
It's not the worst of teachers for waif'

'Go with God -' 'The gelding?' I inquired -
He laughed and said: 'It's kept for the inspired,
And you, at least for now could never keep
Your seat - you'd better travel on your feet'

The shadows parted, showing us the door
The dreadful street outside, the smoke of war,
The rubble and the devastation, such
A dismal, squalid vista was too much

For us to contemplate - I nearly turned,
But then he spoke with Robin: 'Boy, you learn
Right quick - the flower's for your needs
So keep it safe and follow where it leads'

'I've got to find my sister, will it show --?'
'Sometimes it will whisper, sometimes grow
And twist in the direction where she's gone -
Listen to the flower - now go on'

Outside in the street, and not a clue
Where Flora'd gone to, darkness growing thick
As if the gloom had stirred, become a gruel
Of burning streets, a congee of the cruel

'Are you still there?' I said to Robin. If
Flora disappeared then what could stop
The boy from disappearing? But he laughed:
'You won't get rid of me so quickly - Pop.'

'I'm not your father, Robin,' I began -
Thought better of it, he was only twelve,
And speaking of another kind of gruel,
Faith's the starch that stiffens up resolve

Faith in me? But I was lost as he,
And yet though lost we might as well get started -
I'd keep his courage up, and mine as well -
A leader has no time to be downhearted

Many were the streets we walked along -
We stopped to speak with citizens who scuffed
And loitered speechless all along the road -
The sour smell of hopelessness was strong

Still the line-ups, still the disappeared
Thinned the crowds and yet no one could tell
What it was that took them, though they feared
They would be the next - an anxious hell

Finally a woman in a crowd
Who seemed less blunted told us in a voice
Combining terror with a veiled command -
'The only hope is with the fisherman.'

I looked at Robin, and he looked at me -
'What's the flower say?' His faced seemed thin
And pallid, though he nodded thoughtfully -
'The flower's sending rootlets through my skin.'

My own skin crept. 'But can't you pull it out?'
He shook his head - 'I don't think that I can,
But when the woman spoke it moved and twitched -
Perhaps we'd better find that fisherman.'

Some we spoke to after said they knew
Where to find the fisherman - but how?
Directions were misleading and a few
Said they knew but didn't want to know

'Be careful, very careful,' many said,
'He's a famished gardener - that fiend -
And those who start by staying as a guest
End up planted - permanent, we mean'

So we came at last to one small street
That seemed in peace apart from all the trouble -
And then an entrance filled with light, a sweet
Odor as of flowers filled the air

A man appeared, the one we'd seen before
Astride the gelding in the wood. He said
'This is my doorway though it has no door -
Please come with me, my guests, you are invited.'

His face was kind, less solemn than before
But wore a stiff expression of some pain
That passed across his features frequently -
And on his chest the spreading of a stain

'My house is yours.' He showed us through the rooms.
Incongruous the suffering on his face -
The light of peace about him, and perfumes.
He limped, and hesitated in his pace

'You must forgive me friends, if I can help
I will, but I am less well than I was.'
'My sister Flora,' Robin told him, 'please
Find her.' And he went down on his knees.

'No, get up my child, you must not beg
I want to help you, but you must forbear -
Your suffering pleads for you, but my leg
Is painful - the whole world is full of care

And many are the lost, and still to come
Is grief in plenty, sorrow and despair
But I have something marvelous to show you
In a room below - we'll use a stair

'Many come for help, but few accept
The help they really need - what I reveal
Is not what people want - descend these steps
And you'll see what I mean, real or unreal

To you.' He led us slowly down the flight
And as we three descended there arose
A moisture and a pungency of scent
A sharpness redolent of ripened cloves

But then, a level down, the tenderness
And sweetness of a garden filled the air -
Light diffused and golden, weightlessness,
Clemency and peace, and trusting prayer

There was a river flowing underground
Ivy and a copse of trees, and song
From somewhere in the distance and a sound
Of water falling, crickets and profound

Peace that interwove itself between
The strands of this consolatory dream.
But it was not a dream, we were awake
And stood beside the borders of a lake.

The wounded man stood with us, and he showed
Before us on the ground a tiny flower -
'Bloodroot is its name, and where it grows
My own heart's blood is driven by its power -

See, a field of bloodroot on this bank
And every time a flower's plucked I bleed -
Once, above, it flourished like a weed
But now no one can gather but myself.'

'I gather it despite my grievous pain
For only by my blood will bloodroot grow.

'The flower's very precious then,' said I,
'Or never would you cause yourself such sorrow,
To grow a plant that needs your blood to grow.'
'It is my blood that's precious - ask me why.'

But we were mute and helpless there to ask -
A cursed inhibition held our tongues -
To question why his blood was such a treasure
As if a lock had clamped about our lungs

Or why his leg was crippled, or his name
Or why he gave the little azure squill
To Robin - all of this remained unasked
As if a force had conquered both our wills

But Robin held his hand against his chest,
Pressed the azure flower, then he asked:
'But tell me where my sister is. I doubt
If you can help me now - our time is running out.'

The wounded man seemed saddened, and he sighed:
'I see that grief will never be denied -
It must be spent while humans are corrupt
Until the trove of sorrow is used up,

So here we are.' He bent down toward the stream
And concentrated, then thrust in his hands
And hefted out a fish that wriggled so
It almost leapt away, but fell on land

And lashed its tail, and doubled up its sides.
'This is how you'll know where Flora hides,'
He said to Robin. Then with one swift stroke
He twisted it until the backbone broke

And thumbed against the grain - the silver scales
Flew away and scattered on the shore,
Then he held it downward by the tail
And silver from its mouth began to pour

'Here,' he said, 'for information pay
Each one whom you meet who can inform
You where your Flora went and where she stayed
Until to stay in hiding she moved on'

Robin knelt and gathered up the coins
While I stood watching, frightened and aghast.
'Spend them where you must, and spend them fast
To purchase both the future and the past.'

Deserted, not a soul, a step, a sound -
We'd left his dwelling and our friend was gone,
Behind us, in the past - it made no sense -
It was as if we'd lost all confidence

Although the coins still jingled in our clothes
And Robin's flower in his flesh still grew
A feeling of abandonment arose -
And where was Flora? - only Jesus knew

The man of wounds, the lack of him felt keen.
And what about those wounds, what did they mean?
His stain of blood - it never ceased to flow -
And with his blood he made some bloodroot grow

My head was swimming - too much mystery -
At least, somehow, we were no longer hungry -
First we'd find sweet Flora then elude
This interloping death, this solitude

Alone we walked - the wind began to whine
And pushed the window shades, the hanging signs,
The heavy insulators on the poles -
A thrill of the uncanny touched our souls

Soon the light itself began to shift
But nothing could be seen except the lift
Of darkness in the light, in unison -
The smell and cadence of a weird battalion

Against a wall we hugged the rough concrete -
A decomposing army in the street
Crammed the thoroughfare from side to side -
But how from the invisible to hide?

'They're on the way to somewhere,' said the child,
'The flower feels as if the stem is pulled
Along with them.' It made us feel defiled
By this unseen battalion of ghouls

The movement in the air began to fall -
We left the false protection of the wall,
Trailed the shimmer, then by looking higher
The shuddering of loose electric wire

We followed nervously that cavalcade
Of no thing we could see, although a throng
Of marching stinking phantasms had made
The signs and wires move - we went along

And heard a sound of heavy lamentation.
Did it come from somewhere in the gloom?
We found by sight a soundless confirmation -
Rippled light that streamed out from a door

Which opened at the level of the street -
We entered instantly - not feeling fear -
(We're braver when there's nowhere to retreat).
Before us was a hollow crystal sphere

That filled the walls and ceiling of a chamber
Resting on a highly polished floor,
Inside the hunched up figure of a man
His back conforming to the curvature

He seemed so inconsolable, distraught,
Unsoothable inside his crystal cell
That Robin tried to reach him, slipped and fell
Against the sphere, which yielded and went taut

'So,' the man said, 'prisoners at large -
But crystal cells resist your sabotage -
I'll die in here, although it's not my fault.
Persuasion can't extract me, or assault,'

'Can you escape or can't you?' Robin screamed.
'I can't, but I don't want to anyway -
Why should you care? - get out of here, or stay -
It doesn't matter, everyone is dead.'

'But that's not true,' I told him, 'you see us,
And lots of others live, we'll testify.'
'Prove it,' said the prisoner, 'don't trust
What anybody says - it's all a lie.'

Robin rubbed his shinbone where it hurt.
'Kick the membrane out,' he yelled, 'attack
It!' 'No, a hollow crystal has no dirt
Inside unless it seeps in through a crack.

'And anyway, what difference does it make
If I'm in here, or out there - life's a fake -
Existence is unbearable, the same
Whether I'm in paradise - or what's its name?'

'What is your name?' asked Robin, 'what's your beef?'
'I'm Adam,' and he turned his face awry:
'It's cramped in here but I can keep an eye
On everything - there's no room for a thief.

'No one can get at me here, I'm safe
On every side, and nothing can sneak past
Because my crystal fills up all the space -
It's unassailable and made to last.'

'I'm all for your security,' I said,
'But why the constant weeping that we heard,
It's loud enough to animate the dead - '
The prisoner said 'Stop now, take back that word.

'There's nothing wrong with me, and if I whine
How does that concern you anyhow?
It's just because the inner surface shines
A bit, and breaks up my reflection.'

Robin stared a long time at the man,
And stroked the little flower in his coat -
It seemed to lead him where he had to go -
'Sure,' he said at last, 'your name is Adam?'

'Well nothing's sure, for sure.' he moved his gaze
Away from us as if to hide his face -
'I'm from somewhere else, and if I go
My name remains, my reputation stays.'

'What reputation?' Robin asked. I felt
Raw dread - the crystal broke, began to melt
And out of it the contour of a form
Wriggled out, a sort of twisting worm.

'Run,' I howled, 'Robin move, get out,'
Then a great confusion and a shout
Of triumph, and a loud command -
I shouted back and swung my fist, and ran

'What was it Robin?' As I caught my breath
My heart was pounding in my scalding chest -
'I saw,' I gasped, 'a chimera of death.'
'Human face,' he said,' but not the rest.'

'But Lord in heaven, who knows what it was -
It looked so mean and sullen, furious
And shameful, bound to make us pay
For everything, as if we were the cause

'Of all its trouble - make us pay out double.'
Again I heard the neighing of a horse
I'd heard so long ago, it seemed, and far.
'Come on,' said the boy, 'let's find my sister.'

In a while the roadway opened out,
Became a plaza filled with broken trees
As if by whirlwinds executed - cut
Off at the trunk - tremendous forces

Struck here, that was sure. I asked my friend:
'Eight avenues lead out, so which one goes
To Flora? Maybe all of them, or none.'
'We're on the one we're on, so that makes seven.'

'Let's treat it as a gamble then, and choose
An avenue at random.' 'Not so fast,'
Said Robin, as he clutched the purple flower,
And pointed to a building, veiled and vast

That lay across the square, a mighty phantom.
'Let's go in there, I don't know why, what for.
We'll get a little closer and explore -
There might be something waiting in a room.'

The flower on his coat had seemed to stir
As if it were a third companion
Helping us and hinting where to go -
The bleeding man had given it to Robin

We set off at a run across the square,
Then up the steps - we jogged in side by side -
A thunder in the darkness made my hair
Rise upward and my pupils open wide

We heard a hollow clattering of hooves,
An equine form came near the inner stairs
Reared up, ramped and waved its blocky hooves -
We closed in to it nearly as we dared

It was a stallion with a human head -
The face familiar, one we'd seen before. -
The captive of the crystal, now instead
Of being human it was half, or quarter.

'I am the gelding that you rode,' it said
'To meet the sun and travel to this place.
I am the farrier who shoes the dead -
Can't you recognize me by my face?'

It swiveled on its hind feet, galloped off
On marble floors in darkness - then we stood
Confused and shaking, in a kind of awe -
Reality itself seemed twisted, skewed

But that was it, the insight that I'd lacked -
I understood what I had seen so far -
A ruined city terrorized and sacked
For no apparent reason, in a war

Which made no sense, the enemy concealed
Or changing shape, the denizens
By stages carried off, the outlets sealed
The very air above the place a shield

Preventing observation from outside -
'That's it,' I said to Robin, 'chaos reigns,
Gratuitous unreason has no sense,
Make yourself a void or go insane

'And that's why all the faces here are blank
Or hostile - there's no other way to think.'
'But where is Flora,' Robin said, and why
Should anybody care what way they die?'

'No, the question is, who can we trust?
We have the presents of the wounded man:
The spinning flower and the silver coins,
And faith in his benevolence.' Just then...

Just then we heard a great voice say: 'Speak, dust'
And all at once the building's rooms turned light -
It was we two, it seemed, whom it addressed -
The monumental staircase rippled up

As if it were inviting us to climb
To see how far the giant building spread
Into more distant rooms, and Robin said:
'Let's go, and not feel any fear this time.'

We reached a marble landing and went on
Through several long passages - footfalls
Seemingly preceded us, until
A circular great room appeared, and one

Gigantic globe stood in the center
Like a sun, but cooler - we could look
Directly at its face and not go blind -
As if by some wise instinct Robin took

A silver coin - he spun it on his thumb
Then tossed it toward the globe - it touched the surface -
With a flash of lightning it went in
And disappeared from sight - the surface seethed

The voice we heard before said: 'Come, advance.'
So with apprehension we approached.
'Ask me what you want of me,' it coaxed,
'The whereabouts of Flora, now, perchance?'

'Yes, my sister, where is she?' replied
Robin bravely, 'No, she hasn't died,'
A speaking thunder answered from the sphere,
'If that's what you're afraid of, she is near

To where you're standing now, but not so close
That you can reach her quickly - find the rose
Of eight points of the compass.' So we traced
The full circumference of the shining globe

By walking round it. Hallways
Cut eight sections of the curving wall.
'There she is,' yelled Robin. 'There again.'
She wasn't in one hallway, but in all.

Eight Floras each appeared in their own hall
Seen at a distance, looking small, then large
Beneath high ceilings - which of them was real?
Each time we looked we saw a faithful image

So that she must have been in eight divided
Or instantly transported just before
We looked in wonder down each corridor -
'Which one's really she, have you decided?'

Each phantom Flora laughed and skipped and danced
Away, and in perspective seemed to wane
In size - an elfin apparition -
It made us feel confounded, or insane

Eight entrances converging in the wall
Like spokes that meet the felloe of a wheel -
At each new phantom copy Robin called:
'Flora, come with us.' And he would kneel

In supplication, but his sister fled
Or dwindled in the distance till she blurred -
Phantom or mirage, or she preferred
To lead us by not leading anywhere.

'How can we rescue Flora, which one's real,
Seven must be counterfeits, or wraiths?
Maybe all the Floras are unreal
And just enticements, hazards of this place.'

'So what?' snapped Robin, 'might as well go on.'
'But where?' 'I'll follow one, you track another.'
'We'll never find each other - pick one hall
And then we'll go together, little brother.'

'Which way, you clown,' screamed Robin to the voice
Inside the glowing sphere. 'You've got no choice,'
It said in syllables of thunder, 'when
You've got too many choices, little friend.

'Now pick a way - your sister's life's at stake.'
'How can I pick one Flora? I see eight.'
The boy had lost control, began to shake -
Aghast, I saw his eyes emitting light...

The globe began to spin - a long-waved rumble
Penetrated even though the floor
And made it roll - I tried to move and stumbled -
A sailor on a tossing deck at sea

Or maybe like the rider on a horse
That bucks and wants to throw the rider off -
But then at once remembered - yes, of course,
It was a sun that carried me aloft

A sun that shouldered me and left me here,
This city under siege. I lost my fear
And tried to calm my friend but he was lost
In rage - the stone beneath us bucked and tossed

And then grew steady as the sphere gained speed
Then settled to a rhythm of rotation -
A sonorous deep voice addressed us - 'Feed
Your hunger for contentment on the light.'

It seemed to pour its own light in the child
So that he calmed as if more reconciled -
The look of desperation in his eyes
Bled away - his fit of rage turned mild

'Eight the roads, eight the corridors
Eight means of exploration, eight the days -
There is a right and wrong of it - beware -
One who chooses rightly stops and prays

To overcome contingency and chance
For knowing when to stand still or advance -
Three ways are the ways of endless craving
Two ways are the poisons of malignance

One way is the appetite for rage
And one room is a self-constructed cage.'
'One other way,' I told it, 'You confess
To eight ways leading out of here, not less.'

'The eighth way is the one way to succeed
In finding Flora, finding what you need,'
Said the spinning sun, and turning slow
Fell to silence. Robin said: 'I know!'

'I know,' said Robin, pushing out his fist,
'How we can pick the right hall out of eight
To find my sister.' 'How's that?' I inquired.
Put all your confidence and trust in fate.

'If we were meant to find her, then we will,
And if we weren't why should we annoy
Old Lady Luck, Queen Fortune with complaints?
We'll choose a hall at random' said the boy.

'You're behind the eight ball, my young friend,
The stake here is your sister, not a pile
Of money. Let's not gamble with her life.'
'Wait!' the glowing sun said, 'wait a while.'

Something seemed disturbed about the sphere
Black spots spread divisions on its face
And lengthened into lines from pole to pole
And then along these lines began to tear

And as an orange sections when it opens
So the sphere divided in eight parts,
The pieces fell, revealed a human figure,
A wounded man inside its heart of hearts

He lay as if suspended in mid-air
A couch of glowing plasma was his bed
Streaks of blood congealing on his head
Wounds in hands and feet, and in his side

'I've seen some of those wounds before,' said Robin,
'Some of them are new to me,' I said.
The both of us were whispering. It was
The wounded man, the rider, live, or dead.

'Another coin of silver here is useless
Said the rive sun, 'don't spend it here,
And Lady Fate has nothing to confess,
There is no goddess Fortune, never was

'Only someone helpless like this one
He always was a carcass in disguise.'
'No, he can't be dead,' I cried in shock
And at these words the corpse began to rise.

The body rose and shed a somber dust
And on its wounds there grew a blackish crust
Though its eyes were closed the body spoke:
'I have thrown off for now corruption's cloak

'I had six wounds,' it said, 'and now have seven
Four wounds in the hands and feet were driven
A wound each in the heart and side made six
One wound in the upper leg transfixed

'Though my blood becomes a bitter stream
This wound beneath the breastbone gushes free -
By flesh and blood alone will I redeem
The searchers and the searched for and the city'

The body turned a mortal, morbid blue,
Yet both the eyelids opened and the voice
Came from all directions: 'Stay aware,
Watch for every warning, every clue.'

'Wait,' my young companion yelled, 'I ask...'
Too late, too slow, the crucial moment passed.
'What was it crippled you and why the need
For sacrifice - why is it that you bleed?'

The solar compass closed, the figure gone,
Swallowed up inside, enfolded there -
Empty was the room - we were alone,
We had to find the little girl, but where?
 

We circled widdershins, began to search
The room's circumference once again, to watch
For something small and plain we'd overlooked -
'Stop!' he said: 'Hold on, I found a match.

'Not a light,' he laughed, 'they're little flowers
Like the ones the crippled fellow grew -
Bloodroot was the name of it, I'll gather
Some of them - maybe just a few.'

He tugged - a few came up - a heavy stone
Sculpted in the figure of a mare
Loosened from an arch - the cripple moaned
Within the globe - but Robin cried: 'Through there!'

We vaulted, landed, sprinted through the doorway
And as we ran between gigantic walls
We saw old portraits of fine generals
And horses galloping, and archery

And battles, all archaic, full of spears
Like bristles on a boar - two thickets dark
Approaching from a stand of battle lines,
And hand-to-hand, a nightmare bloody work

And then more modern pictures, tanks and planes,
A swirling knot of contrails and a scene
Of gatling fire, trenches, enfilades -
We saw tank armies fighting on a plain

And cities, harbors, harvesters on treads.
A way of life, the order of a world
Solar panels, satellites unfurled
Eight hundred years in paintings overhead

Ages of perspective, endlessly,
But then a figure growing rapidly -
A little girl inside a giant chair
Kicking up her heels - I yelled: 'It's she!'

'Flora dear,' cried Robin, 'you were gone
, The bloodroot and the eight of you,' he gabbled,
But how were we to know, and then the sun,
The wounded man, the silver coins, the rubble

'The phantom armies marching who knew where,
The gelding with the human head, the worm
That was a man inside an egg.' 'Who cares,'
Said Flora, 'where you were, what made you squirm.'

'I've learned a thing or two since I walked out
While you were watching shabby tricks with fire -
Illusions can be realized with power.'
'Who taught you that?' I snapped, 'and how to say it?'

An apparition rose behind the chair
A man who was another kind of thing -
'I am the one who speaks, o insolent,
I am the voice that governs everywhere.'

The man, if human was, grew like a snake
Upright, taller than a man should be
And swayed from side to side, his neck enlarged
Like hooded cobras' when disturbed, at bay

Hard arrogance like diamond in his eyes
And Flora, small before, diminished in the chair
Not much more than gossamer, doll-size -
The snake-man hissed and bowed: 'Esteemed betrayer.'

Reflexively the child clutched at his breast
To seek the purple flower's influence
But it was gone - 'I am the tyrant here
Except for me there is no one to fear

'This alien, he is no friend of yours,'
He said to Robin, 'come be one of mine
And clutch bouquets of garnets in your hand -
And be both human-like and half-divine

'Here's a knife.' He held one in his fist -
'Kill him now' the ogre meant myself -
'Or take one step away, I'll do the same.
Keep your distance from him, take the blame

'Only take the blame, I'll do the rest
I'll be the one who acts, if you confess -
No blood will stain your fingers or your arms,
And Flora, not this puppet, comes back unharmed.'

But Robin took the knife and looked my way
The weapon gleamed and sparkled - grey
Unpolished blade and golden on the haft -
A snake was chased along the steel. 'A gift

The monster said, 'keep it when you're done'
Robin stared amazed at him - 'I am his son.'
He turned the knife around and gave it back
Handle first. The metal glowed and cracked

And shattered into fragments without end
Like thresh of wheat or pollen in the wind.
'Then step aside,' the ogre said, 'I'll do
What's necessary, then I'll murder you.'

He hissed: 'All this is mine, all this is mine,
Cities, armies, nations, all of time,
Not pictures only, lives, realities
You've seen it all, the universe is me

'And no one lives except by my desire.'
He shriveled, dwindled, turned into a snake
As white as ivory, flexible as wire
And wriggled ess-ed and deadly toward my feet

With eyes of garnet, scales that looked like snow
Thick yet sinuous, compact but seemed to flow -
I jumped aside, but he was agile, quick,
And spiraled round my leg, began to lick

My flesh, the feeling was like fire
I tried to pull away, the snake climbed higher
My vision turned to flame - and then I felt
The pressure of the coils release, the welt

Of flame around my burning skin relent -
O how that lessening was heaven-sent
And then I saw two wolfish figures draw
The snake away and chop it with their jaws

So that each separate segment jumped and rolled
In agony, the head itself gaped wide,
Displayed the fangs and poison glands inside -
And then the burning garnet eyes went cold

The first wolf was a male, it stood upright
Became a human soul, a handsome youth
The other was a female, then a girl -
Though strange it was to see, I tell the truth.

'Who are you, or what are you both?' I moaned.
'Never mind,' the girl said, 'he'll rejoin
His severed pieces each to each as soon
As he's recovered. 'Do you have two coins

'Two silver coins?' she said to Robin. 'Yes.'
Then cover up his eyes, and come with us.'
But what about my sister?' 'Boy, she's not
A living thing, but flummery - she'll rot...

As soon as we're away from here.
A marionetka, as we say, where we come from -
We're Russian wolves and also human beings -
We'll tell you how we got that way - now come!

Off we went, and as we jogged one wolf -
The girl it was, held out her human paw,
And there inside the roughened palm there was
The purple flower - whole, uncrushed we saw

With petals - count them - eight, around a core -
She gave it back to Robin and he pressed
The stalk, but very gently, to his chest
And as he did the boy wolf said: 'Good work

'It is the master's gift - as are the coins.
The bloodroot too, the heart's root of the master -
You dropped it somewhere back there but no matter
It grows wherever he is, and it joins

The blood of those who love him to his blood.
But see' - we'd stopped to catch our breath by now -
'The flower is a blueprint of this house -
Eight petals are the corridors and show

How the building's planned, and here's the chamber
Where the master lies asleep, there, in the center.'
'So that's his name,' said Robin, 'he's the master.'
'No, it's a description, but the name

'Is something known to all who are his friends
Or those who will be friends to him hereafter.'
'Where are we?' I broke in, 'and who was that
Creature we encountered - I mean killer?'

'He's the king of dreadful pride and danger.
Betrayal is his title and his pleasure
But as for his identity, let's gain
Some interval before we say his name.

We went along, and then at once we passed
Into a narrow passage, tight and grim
Which opened out - we saw green fields and grass
Between two giant walls - and then an apparition

On the ground, and I could scarce believe it.
There, before us, stretched a living man
Of shadow, and he moved himself along -
But who would think that grass and blooms could weave

The body of a man, and yet give way
To other varied patterns - in the breast
There glowed and pumped a scarlet flower
A sort of heart inside a shadow chest.

A man suspended overhead between
Us and a sun might be a shade -
But nothing was above but walls and roof
And such diffused illumination that was made

By unseen sources. 'He's a friendly foe
Spoke out the female wolf, 'He'll be our guide
While moving through this wing we call
The corridor of treacherous delight

And yet he's dangerous and frivolous -
See how much his body changes when he moves
From one place to the other - don't discuss
Your inmost plans with him, he's just a shadow.'

'And you are?' 'Mash,' she said, and bowed,
'And he', referring to the male, 'is called Malish.
When we two were beasts we were endowed
With human forms, but not so as to punish.

'There's no time now to linger, let's go on.'
'And what about my sister, is she here?'
Asked Robin anxiously? 'And what's his name?'
A shadow has no name, and knows no fear,'

Said Mash, 'and as for Flora and for you -
We know your names and also that you were
Deprived of parents in the devastated world -
We are your guardians for now.' She licked her fur.

Although a girl she had a wolf's long tongue
And fine light-colored hair, where we could see,
Except on face and hands, and those were dark.
'Let's go,' she said, 'this daylight won't last long.'

Think a shadow, sliding underground,
A man-shaped rippled object, small or large
Depending on the sun's diurnal height -
Small at noon and therefor long at night

We heard some phrases coming from this one,
Whispers like the winds that comb a meadow
And yet with words distinctly spoken, human -
'I will extend toward evening, so follow.'

The five of us moved on - two human wolves,
Robin and myself, a shadow wight
Who seemed to see the sky's high darkening
Without two eyes, or posturing upright

We came upon a picnic in a field
Laid out for five, a cloth of celandine
With dishes made of ruddy paper-birch
Utensils of obsidian, though dull to touch.

The edges of the knives were blunt, the spoons
Had rounded rims - they would not cut
The lips - and yet no servant could be seen
With food to fill the bowls - it was high noon

Of this diminished day, one short of hours -
Three of daylight, three of night there were
In this uncanny place. There were five towers
Seen on the horizon, though not far.

Quickly dishes filled with food, the brims
Of tumblers charged with yellow wine.
'You must be hungry, taste the drink and dine'
The shadow said, ' but do not leave a crumb

'You must eat everything that will appear.'
And though we all were famished we felt fear.
I said to it: 'Suppose we leave some food?'
The shadow whispered: 'That would not be good.'

The girl wolf gnashed her teeth 'I'm ravenous
But what if something's left?' "Let's not discuss
What happens then,' said Robin, 'I must eat.'
'Don't touch it,' said Malish, 'although you faint

With hunger, do not yield, for once you do
You will not stop to breathe although you burst.
This place of restoration is accursed -
The platters and the tumblers ever full.'

The two young human wolves became deranged -
They ogled the repast - they groaned and wept,
They dangled foaming tongues, they crawled and crept
Up toward the cloth and crouched and sprang

But did not touch the food - they kept away -
It was a torment just to watch, and as for me
And Robin, we were ravenous though scared -
My jaws were aching, and his teeth were bared

The food was so delightful - salmon fish
With scales of platinum and scented flesh,
Grapes that could be garnet, smoky flame,
Sweets that smelled of orange - pastry, game

Every taste and appetite, salt, sweet,
Savory and sour, greens or meat -
Served in full abundance there, no need
To ever stop - to drink were wine and mead

Ale of wheat, and water from a spring,
Thin sweet yoghurt, buttermilk and whey.
'Begin,' said Shadow Man 'without delay.'
'What happens if we stop?' said Robin, trembling.

'That would not be wise.' Just then we heard
Calling from a tower not too far -
'Flora! That's her voice. It must be she.'
'Eat,' the shadow urged us, 'then you'll see -

'It may be Flora, but you'll need your strength
To scale the tower, something hard to do
For weaklings and the feeble.' Now the length
Of our tormentor stretched - it was near dusk.

'It may be she but she'll be gone by dawn,'
The shadow told us, stretching out its arm
Until it touched the bottom of the tower -
'Go on, fall to my friends, drink up, devour.'

'See,' the shadow hissed, 'I'll eat a fish.'
The phantom slid across the ground until
The head of it enclosed a laden dish
Encasing it with darkness, like a frill

Surrounded everything that lay inside -
Silver salmon, roe on kelp - and made
It disappear as if engulfed. It fed
Without ingesting anything. It said:

'No harm has come to me, you may proceed
To satisfy yourselves, go on and feed.'
The famished werewolves poised above the feast -
I and Robin slavered like two beasts

Then something overcame our appetites -
Squeezed our living hearts and made us shake
Like hares in mortal terror of a hawk -
'If you start you'll cram until you break.'

'But how?' said Robin, kneading at his gut.
The two wolves howled, foaming at the chops.
'I can't explain it, keep away, don't eat -
Those who do will die before they stop.'

Suddenly the earth began to groan
It rose and bucked and threw us backward, prone,
Then split into a chasm underneath
The celandine, extended to our feet

But stopped - the canyon swallowed up the feast.
'Beings made of flesh, the Earth can swallow
Everything the Earth and sea produce
But as for you, you can't,' murmured the Shadow.

'You tempted us,' said Robin, full of fury
He stamped, but only heard a hollow bray -
'Trample with your feet, or dig me up,
Or cover me, I'll never go away.'

Again we heard the sound of Flora's voice.
'You have to help us rescue her, you must,'
Cried Robin to the ever longer Shadow.
'But I grow weak, and always do, at dusk.'

The four of us took timid steps to see
Into the new-made cavern where the meal
Had tumbled to oblivion - mistook
The dusk-light for the gulf that was concealed

Held back, and then collecting our resolve
Crept forward to the edge and stared. Diluted
Radiance was glinting off the scales
And bones of fish, the surfaces of plate

Deep below, within a black crevasse.
'Tell me,' whispered Robin, 'isn't this
The inside of a palace - where are we?
A meadow and a moon is what I see.'

'A strange moon altogether,' I observed.
Much smaller than the moon I used to watch -
No maria, no scars across its face,
And of the crater Tycho not a trace -

It flew across the sky as if it were
An artificial satellite. 'That's her,'
Yelled Robin, 'that's my sister's wail.'
'But there's a chasm straight across the trail -

'Be there a horizon or a wall
If we can't cross, we won't get there at all,'
Said Mash, the wolfish thing who was a girl.
'Not even I can jump that far - I'd fall.'

Now on the far horizon - in a room? -
We saw a human being, small at first,
Striding rapidly - it came upon us,
Features hidden, muffled by the gloom

You'll need a bridge,' he said. It was a man,
Young I thought, decisive in his movements -
As for the voice I'd heard it once before
But where? - it knew it - in the tenement.

The strangeness and the stink of smoke, the heat,
The sense of dread, the Jesus with no eyes,
The alien assault, the memory -
The man who'd left me in the burning street.

'We meet again,' he said. I hadn't spoken.
'I've seen so much lamentable destruction -
The city sacked - so many people taken -
Prisoners somewhere, or something worse

'I've learned a thing or two, a sense of caution
And also to be sensitive to minds -
Some of them I read, and some are less
Open to be scrutinized, I find.'

The human wolves were suddenly alert
They closed upon him sniffing - and I too
Felt less than trusting of this easy chatter -
He wasn't like the other man I knew

Who had been pale and taciturn, and scared.
This person was too easy and complacent -
Now the wolves looked strange, their teeth were bared,
They walked around him stiffly on their toes

He smiled at them - they suddenly relaxed.
'You smell the stink of cinders in my tracks,
A whiff of the invaders makes you choke -
Your hackles rise - the scent of death and smoke.

'And you' - he turned to Robin -' on your chest
I see the azure flower of the master -
Eight revolving petals round a center -
The emblem of the refuge where he rests

And also of the pattern of this place.'
'What is it, anyway?' the boy burst out.
A building or a world with many walls?
Each room is like a universe, but small.'

'Now that's a mystery' the stranger smiled,
'It's like a universe that's been defined
By everything that we expect to find.
So many mysteries to stump a child.

But now you have to leap this dark crevasse
And find your little sister - if she's lost.
It seems next to impossible to pass?
But I know how to throw a bridge across.'

'A soul can fill a hole,' observed the man.
He laughed and told us Leo was his name.
'Or any name you want, it's all the same.
In times like these you take what name you can.'

He stood with arms akimbo on the brink
Of that wide rift that held the baited meal.
'Too broad to bound from here to there, I guess.
But let's find something we can beg or steal.'.

He rubbed his chin. 'Now what about that shadow?
He ought to serve some purpose, even now.'
'It's worn away to nothing in the dusk,'
Said Mash. 'A feeble shadow,' said Malish.

'Where is it, anyhow? Can it be fetched?'
By search and squint at last we saw it stretched,
Attenuated to a flimsy veil -
The Shadow Man in moonlight, water-pale

'I can build him up,' said Leo, 'find
A match and something burnable, some wood
Or anything at all inflammable -
Cloth or bone, or something of the kind -

'And what about the master's azure flower -
Hasn't it some sympathy with fire?'
Robin said, 'an answer to a prayer -
I've noticed, when the flower spins, it flares -

'Although it's hard to see it in the day
It's hot enough to burn me, anyway -
But there's a problem, Leo - it's not pinned -
The purple flower's growing in my skin.'

'Tug it,' Leo told him, 'there's no choice -
It might not come away, but take a chance.'
Robin held the stem and it came free -
'Why did it come out so easily?'

'Not to worry now, we need some fuel.'
Malish took off his shirt - the werewolves wore
Clothing - so did Mash. Although we tore
Linen into strips, the cloth stayed cool.

Nothing else would fire, though we tried
Everything we had - and it was dry -
Robin spun the flower and made sparks
To fire tufts of grass - but they stayed dark

I walked away, and something brushed my foot,
Firm as flesh and yielding to the pressure.
Look,' I said, 'I've found the master's root.'
'Bloodroot,' Leo said, 'I see it glimmer.'

'Look, I see a stain.' Just where I brushed
Against the plant a dark and bitter juice
(I tried it) spread out on the ground -
All the meadow round seemed calm and hushed.

'That's too wet to burn,' said Mash. But I
Picked two opalescent blooms and held them up.
Warm blood or bloodlike wetness rolled
Down my upright fingers till it dripped

And soaked the earth again. And where
It pooled it flowed and glimmered with a flame
A blue-fringed ghost, a length of curving fire
Though cool against the skin at first it flared

In contact with the soil a second time.
And something else - a noise not quite above
The ordinary range of human hearing -
The very distant cooing of a dove

I thought, and asked the others if they heard.
Mash, Malish agreed, though it was loud
For them, much louder than for me -
But Robin said it was a mockingbird

So many were the notes and scales and trills.
And as the trail of flame still flickered
Moving in a trickle toward the blinded hills
Leo stooped and held a bunch of grass

Against the blood, and suddenly it flared.
He piled on clods of earth, and they flared too -
There was a mound of fire in a trice as we
Dug the dark moist earth with hands, and shoes.

(And as the light rose up we saw
Weird waiting shapes of muzzle, claw
And further off great stones, and towers -
It would be light in a few hours)

'Now where's that Shadow?' Leo turned and bent,
Squinted till he'd found the outstretched ghost -
Or phantasm - whatever it might be -
'I knew you couldn't perish or get lost
'Not as long we can make some light.'
He grappled with the empty silhouette
By digging underneath it with his hands -
It flowed away, a sort of jellied night.

Although it tried to sink away he grasped
And gathered form and shadow to his chest -
Perhaps it was an effort of desire -
He hauled it to a place before the fire

Uncanny was the sight of living darkness
Consciousness and craftiness in flatness,
Another form of life and of existence -
And yet it could be touched and held like this

Now the Shadow Man grew black and thick
The light and heat coagulated it -
Stiffened like a joist or metal beam -
He seized it by the heels and pulled it in

Against his chest as if for leverage,
Shoved it forward toward the black crevasse.
'There's your bridge,' he shouted, ' it should hold
Until the bloody firelight goes cold

'If I were not so weak I'd cover you,'
The Shadow groaned, 'but daylight will renew
My strength - I'll gather in revenge
The shadows of the living and the damned.'

'Hurry,' Leo shouted, 'cross and run -
It's not so long before the rising sun
Renews his power.' So we trampled on
The body of a shadow overcome.

It is the dark that breaks before the light.
The Shadow snapped and tumbled in the pit
Yet not before we all crossed over it,
Leo as the last. It was not weight

Which shattered darkness tangible,
But transformation into something thick -
The changing of a phase in some dimension
Inaccessible to us, yet touchable

To those who dwell in light - a paradox.
When universes interpenetrate
Each alters and transmutes the other's state -
The Shadow was a phase transition - cocked.

It much resembled us, but are we not
Shadows to some other world, which speak
In muffled roarings or in dreams and sights -
Hypnopompic, leading from their nights?

We five companions hurried as the rays
Spiking from an ice blue star descended -
In front of us the reddish light of day
Frothed above a skyline incandescent.

Now we faced a swiftly-rising sun
(If sun it was and not hallucination)
Casting into black spears those great columns
In one of which our Flora was imprisoned

But as we ran ahead there followed close
Behind us noiselessly - it did not tread -
The shadow being. 'It's another ghost,'
Cried fearful Mash. 'I am the same,' it said.

Though we were panting, it breathed not at all
And yet maintained the pace - it could not fall
Or stumble, or diminish by exertion,
Only by a lost illumination.

'To you,' we heard, 'I am no solid thing -
A weightless freak, no-sided, featureless -
But in my proper world, a universe,
I am prepotent and can bless and curse.

'Where is the broadest sea I cannot cross?
Which radiance or planet exiles me?
In every time and locus I must be -
The force that binds an atom's nucleus

'Produces energy - assembles me
In space by its projection. In my cosmos
You are shadows, phantoms, are not three-
Dimensioned beings - lack solidity.'

'Pay no attention,' Leo called, ' go on -
Shadows shrink till noon, and then they grow
Larger but still weaker - whatever they might know.'
'Dark one, strong one, leave us both alone,'

The canine children chanted - then they howled.
Hackles raised they stretched and pounded on
In panic toward the spire. The shadow fled
By sliding underground, as do the dead.

The tower by itself stood in a field
Surrounded by a rolling meadow's breadth
Of tangled plants like heather - we fought through,
Knees and ankles straining, borne by strength

Of purpose. Flora's found at last, or so
We thought. The tower was immense and silent -
Then at once - was she within? - We heard
A cheerful childish voice and high-pitched instrument

In counterpoint, descending from above
Yet no one to be seen. 'It's Flora's voice,'
Said Robin, flushed, excited by the hope,
The dearest expectations of fraternal love.

'I promised mother, father to take care
Of Flora. Now, at last, I hear her, there.'
He raised his eyes and listened to the music's
Gliding notes. 'Unless it's just a trick.'

We saw four other towers in the distance
In line with this one, twins to left and right
But far away, they must have been immense -
Oaks of stone, most puissant, of great height.

The curving wall above us seemed to lean -
So high was it - we felt intense unease
That it might topple over. 'Please
Don't touch the face of it for now,'

Said Leo, 'there might be some jeopardy.'
We walked around the whole circumference -
It took us many minutes, perhaps more
Than by our pace could be accounted for.

The verdure at the base was rich and tall,
Lush as if well-watered - we supposed
Condensing droplets of a morning mist
Might aggregate and drip down from the wall

But not a sign of doorways, even slits
Broke up the cold facade of blocks of stone,
And these were huge - yet what machine could lift
This monumental masonry, or shift

It into place? We'd seen no rut or sign
Of such machinery, or even tracks in soil
Of anything mechanical, no kind
Of house, construction or inhabitant.

'How did you get here?' I said to Leo,
Suddenly alert and wary of his presence.
'The same way that you did, intrusiveness -
I found the ruined plaza and the entrance.'

Again a silver waterfall of notes
Poured out from the tower, and we looked
Upward to detect the font and source -
There we saw a spiral line of hooks

Fastened in the joins between the blocks,
Curving toward the unseen upper stories -
Would they be a foothold's length apart?
'We have to try - no enterprise, no worries,'

Leo said. At once he sprang aloft.
'It's short enough for Robin and his stride
Between the hooks,' he shouted as he climbed.
'Come on you four, let's find out what's inside.'

"We place our confidence in what we see"
The sightless say - and so we climbed the wall
By stepping in the hooks - the curve of each
Was large enough to hold a toe - we reached

For handholds too and hauled ourselves upright -
And so by hand and foot we gained in height
Not knowing if the wall was blind or if
It opened to the inside. Step and lift

And step again - we seemed to climb the sky,
So ponderous this tower, high and great
In its circumference and in its mass -
The tonnage of the blocks was not surpassed

In pyramids - the walls were built to last.
We climbed for hours, so it seemed, we stopped
At stages to draw breath and ease our aches -
Our muscles seized and spasmed - then we'd wait

Till we could flex again, recuperate,
Reach up and step again and climb once more.
'Hold on,' cried Leo. He was in the lead. 'I see
An opening some way ahead - a grate

But it's too far to reach, unless I can
Have someone hold my heel inside a palm.'
Malish was next beneath - he balanced on
The inside of a hook and raised his arm

As far as it would go above his head.
Leo stood on one foot, leaned and caught
By finger's length and strength a window sill.
'Watch out," I yelled, 'don't slip or you'll get killed.'

This seemed so dense to Robin that he laughed.
'He also might catch sniffles from the draught.'
Leo strained and pulled the grate away -
He let it go - it whistled as it fell

But when or where it landed none could tell
It was so far beneath. Then Leo hauled
His body through the window, faced about.
'There's room to stand here, come along, don't fall.'

The inside of the tower was a shell -
Colossal, something like a hurricane's
Great eye of stone, in width perhaps a mile -
A gallery ran round it at the wall

The inner side was smooth and had been faced
With brick and then with plaster sheathed
Yet brick showed through in places that had worn -
The tower had been planned and raised

Perhaps millennia ago, though who could tell
How long? The tower might have been a well
Bored into the center of the Earth
For all we knew - what were our guesses worth?

We stood perhaps a fraction of the way
To where the rafters sprang, but it was dark
Above and difficult to see - perhaps the sky
Lay overhead and not suspension work

The solid deck was roughly finished oak
Three meters wide, stone-bracketed beneath -
We craned and saw above, below our feet,
Galleries like wheel rims with no spokes.

Mist and cloud rose up and hovered near
Our faces, wet them with cold drops.
They beaded on the deck and made us slip.
But then some updraft swept the atmosphere

To fine transparency. We seemed to be alone
In this gigantic space. A pulsing wind
Thrummed upon our ears. The decking creaked.
Above I thought I saw curved lightning burn:

A curving universe, yet all enclosed.
Suddenly a drumming as of hooves
And then a childish laugh, as if a bird
Sang duo with the drum, and then opposed

Its innocence: "Dear Robin, look, I'm here.'
Across the ringing hollow of the tower
A quarter way around the circle Flora
Rode the blacksmith's gelding at a canter.

Her legs too short to go astride she went
Sideways, her little face was flushed -
We recognized the voice, but detail blurred
With distance. Then the giant space was hushed.

Then the girl slid down the gelding's ribs -
We heard her tiny feet strike on the boards -
'Should we go to her or she to us?'
Said Mash. But Flora rose and came across the chord

That separated us. Or rather climbed
The oaken rail and walked
In air without support that we could see,
As if her feet were touching solid clay.

Robin choked his breath in, Leo coughed,
The canine children whined inside their throats
And I could utter nothing like a sound -
But Flora laughed the purest, flute-like notes

Closer came, then laughed at us again.
'Between us there's a rainbow barrier
And what seems height and depth is mere illusion -
I walk on other ground, not empty air.'

'It's only Flora's form,' spoke saddened Robin
Breathing once again.' 'Don't be too sure
Said Leo, 'everything's transformed
When people pass through ancient apertures

Into a sort of living history.'
'A mirror's where you really need to look
Said Flora, then she turned and spun in air.
'A mirror's better than a story book.'

She giggled, walked away. I couldn't help
Looking down. The chasm spun before
My panicked vision - surely she must die.
But all the laws of physics were defied.

Her image split as if into a spectrum
Many colors wide - then she was gone.
'Now where's a mirror?' Robin cried. Alone
Among us Leo knew: 'There's one!'
 

An outline in the wall disclosed a circle
Then, plaster pulled away - it was a mirror
Surfaced with a bright reflective metal
Cloudy from the breath at first - it settled

Into perfect clarity. I saw the shape
Of something in the background of the image
Swelling forward - Leo jostled past
Stood before the surface - in a rage

'This one is mine,' he growled. Leaning in
He blocked the others' view, but I am tall
And peered above his shoulder. There, a swan
Whose flawless ivory plumage held his eye

Presenting him its own brown agate one
Which, mirror in a mirror, held his face
Inside its white ellipse of ivory feathers.
'See how handsome you are - like a sun.'

Indeed his face seemed plated with electrum
Azure pupils deep within the eye-holes
Of some grotesque archaic artifact -
They gleamed with greed for something - his own soul.

He wanted to possess himself, I saw.
The others too tore at the plaster wall
Until they found their images revealed -
Three other mirrors in the wall concealed

The wolves admired wolfish human looks
Sleek fur on shortened muzzles, glossy eyes
And growled at themselves in gruff surprise
Held up their claws to show the sharpened hooks

Most frightening of all was little Robin
He gazed and saw much more in something less -
The vacant handsome profile of a prince -
'I need a girl who's good enough for this,'

The poor child said. He mooned before himself
And even stroked the hair in mad esteem
And said: ' Your name is Robin, but you're more
Than Robin was - you need another name.'

And me, my own dear image, what of that?
I scraped the plaster jacket off the brick
And there, inside an oval mirror saw
A face, much older, stronger, thick

Around the jowls, full of confidence
Prosperity and calm indifference -
Maturity was in my master brow
My hillock chin, my massive stag-like neck

This self above my self then spoke: Five
Towers are there, four for lesser kings
But you will have the greatest of the five
Higher than the competence of reckoning

Walls of thickness unassailable
A cosmos of your own, illimitable
And what else could be worthy of you, where
Could there be room for you, my dear?

Lands and kingdoms, seas and valleys, mountains
Higher than the closer stars, all these
Are yours by right and consecration
And everyone will praise you on their knees

O terrible, O merciful, beneficent -
Let those who disobey be excrement.'
I lost myself as all-concealing mist
Passed through the frame, and through

The depth of field, then cleared, and One
Whom I had met before stood where
My insolence had been my avatar
Although it did not speak or move

It was the wounded man, the ancient friend
Whom I had met three times before
Beyond the shoulder of the sun (God send
Him yet again) - with flowers in his hands to show

He held the eight-rayed spinning bloom of azure
And in the center somehow constant stood
Himself as livid corpse, in miniature -
He also held the flower of his blood

A strong hand on my shoulder gripped and ground
The bone - it was my sometime comrade Leo
Whose bloodshot eyes looked sorrowful and wounded -
'We are exposed, let's to our towers go -

'There are five towers, one for each of us
Five strongholds high and thick enough to hold
At bay five armies of the frozen damned
I'll wait them out till hell itself turns cold.'

'And Robin needs a tower of his own,'
Said Robin, 'little Robin is full grown,
A master among men - and he needs room
To wield the wealth and power he'll assume.'

The wolves held up their heads and sniffed:
'We smell warm blood - so let's go after it.'
They grinned at one another - preened and pranced
Before the shining mirrors - then advanced

On Robin with their pointed teeth well-bared -
'Come on,' he shouted, 'kill me if you dare.'
I turned in desperation to the man
Within the mirror - 'Save us if you can.'

'Not if I can but if I will.' I felt
A blessed warmth come over me - it spread
Like yellow light of sunlight - then I knelt
Before the glowing mirror - 'Feed the dead.'

The image spoke, though image was no longer
But a living man and I myself a likeness -
And everything around me had a flatness
To it - Death is strong but he was stronger.

Feed the dead.' The shining being held
Instead of flowers in each hand a bowl
That was like half a sun - although I couldn't tell
What it contained - it was above eye-level

Then I saw my four companions faint -
Each fell to the wooden deck as if
Struck down by deep and irresistible fatigue -
'Here is my self,' he said, 'my one true gift.

'Stand and show your hand to me," I held
My hand up, then I touched the mirror's rind
Waited for a moment, then pushed through
So that one part of me was here, in time -

The other went beyond, to where he was -
The wrist, the fingers and the skin - I felt
A stabbing pain - Give me the other,'
Said the wounded man - 'my foolish brother -

'Those who would go with me share my grief.'
Then I felt a piercing through and through
From hands to arms to heart to hand anew -
Such pangs would summon dying for relief -

Ran along my nerves - then anguish grew
Which took the place of sorrow for my pain -
I felt the grief of Robin and his loss
Of home, and sister - Leo in his madness

Losing self, and those two chimeras
Mash and her Malish - exiled from unconsciousness
Half-human now and full of anguished dread
Yet self-loving, learning how to die

Though retaining instincts and their fangs.
I drew my hands back, saw my comrades' swoon
And also front to back my bleeding wounds -
'When you have felt all told my seven pangs

'And passed through all of eightfold corridors
You may return to me - till then, go free -
The world outside still burns, the grim assault
Goes on, and all is violent mystery

'You will wager yet, find all my woes
Before you find the child and what she knows -
Find the gelding and the farrier
The holy bloodroot and the salamander

'Find the ruined city, sacked and burned
The hollow egg, the human-headed worm
The master's garden growing in a vault
The mansion of corruption and assault

'Find the creatures who can walk and see
But not be seen - invisibility
That wages war but never can be fought,
Catches souls and never can be caught

'Find illusion, fury mixed with fright,
Find hunger and an evil appetite -
Find me once again, my youthful brave
And foolish travelers - and find my grave.

But when you see an empty tomb you'll know
The truth of Flora, not her imago.
Beware my loved ones, easier to find
Is long forgetfulness and death of mind.'

A light that tasted sweet and bitter ran
Across my tongue, and I could speak.
I thanked him for himself. But he began
To gather to the distance and retreat.

My friends entranced - their consciousness was lost -
Were still. They moved, and then I told
Them gently to wake up - but as I spoke
I felt a light go from me, and they woke.

Then something underfoot began to stir
A sensible vibration through the soles
And made the stonework jolt then seem to purr
Like some gigantic cat above its bowl

'I felt the tower shake - 'Get up, get out.'
'What for?' said Leo groggily, 'this place
Will fall when Earth itself breaks down
Into a ring of rubble cast in space.'

But he got to his feet, so did the three -
Mash and her Malish and then the boy.
And now the deck itself began to crack
Along the lengthwise axes of the planks

'This tower's built to last for all the ages'
Leo said. The walls split up in crazes -
Cracks as if cold lightning spread from top
To bottom of the wall - 'God, make it stop,'

Cried Robin, twisting in his ears
His whitened knuckles. Meanwhile all my fears
Were centered on the prop work underneath -
It would be first to fracture and break up.

'One way go the goats, the other sheep
Make their escape - if they have guts to leap.'
Who was that? - the tower of itself
Seemed to have a voice - or was it nerves -

Imagination giving speech to noise?
Below was an abyss, above was poised
A giant mass of stone - if it should fall
A block would be enough to crush us all

I held on to the bucking rail and peered
Down into the bore - it was a sheer
Drop of an incalculable height
Enough to put a condor into fright.

But as I balanced, suddenly I heard
The voice again, and then made out a bird
Pinion feathers spread - and saw it soar
Somewhat lower - stones began to pour

Like solid rain dislodged from space - we spread
Our naked arms above our skulls, in dread.
Now the purring steadied to a roar
Of jostling stones, but then it quieted.

Began once more, then fell into a calm.
'Is that the end, or only an alarm?'
Said pasty Leo. Mash held out her paw
And dropped a jagged pebble from the side.

We watched it dwindle, vanish in the void
We listened well, but no one heard a noise
Not even Mash, Malish. 'We could climb out
Again,' said Leo, ' but I have my doubts -

'We'd be exposed and vulnerable there,
Finger tip and toe holds in the air
With pieces of the tower flying by -
But I'll go first - in case you want to try.

'But somehow that's a blockhead's stratagem -
This tower is a trap, a live one too.
I think we would be shaken from the wall
As dogs shake off the droplets of a swim.'

We heard a clatter on the wooden boards
And looked up in alarm - we saw the gelding
Trotting freely on the gallery -
Strange to see it on a balcony

The farrier's steed that little Flora rode.
As an apparition - Leo strode
Toward the pawing beast and stopped him then,
Grasped the gelding's mane and mounted him

Bareback - down he looked at us and laughed:
'We'll not get out of here by clever craft
But only by acceptance...' Then he pressed
His heels against the gelding's side - they leapt

Together, man on horseback, from the rail
He against the horse's neck - and it
With streaming mane and banner-streaming tail
Carried Leo down into the pit

The wolves went mad - they chattered and defied
Death by cursing it - now up they went
And balanced on the rail - then threw
Themselves to sure destruction, side by side

'It was the evil mirrors drove them mad,'
Robin said. 'But what was it they saw?'
I asked him, trembling from the shock I'd had
To see my three companions kill themselves.

'I don't know what they saw, but as for me
I felt as if I could do anything -
I saw myself like day-dreams always show -
Adventurer and conqueror - a hero.'

'The mirrors know our weaknesses.'
'Never mind,' said Robin, we survived. ' So far.'
'But what's that rising from the well - a star?'
It was a spot of light that scintillated

Growing larger - then I saw the bird
I'd noted once before - and now it grew
In its apparent size - it was an eye
That gleamed from some reflection - now it flew

So powerfully and purposefully it came
Swiftly up to where we stood and sailed
Past our faces - we recoiled in fear -
It had a human head and called our names.

Curving wings to brake its landing speed,
With talons spread it landed on the rail
And folded up its giant span - no breed
Of bird that I have ever seen - a monster.

Looking like an apple wrinkled up:
An oval head atop a bird's long neck
That shrugged inside two shoulders - vulturine -
With dirty plumage - vigorous, obscene -

Yellow eyes that squinted madness, malice -
Human too were these and yet not quite
For they were also avian, far-seeing -
'Well met,' it gibbered, shrieking ,'well-met twice.

'Now I'll lead you out of here - no hell
Can hold you so securely as this well
Of inner space and time - I know escapes
From climbing traps that would defeat an ape.'

We had been standing back, so from our view
The creature had been bird-sized, though of large
Dimensions, now up close we knew
It was extraordinary, monstrous huge

Taller than a large man when he stands
The head though small proportionately sized
As if a human had accomplished flight
By chromosomal change - a flying man

'Now you both come close to me - I'll take
You to a cave - you'll find an exit
Out of here. 'But wait,' cried Robin, 'what about
A little girl, her safety is at stake -

'Her name is Flora...' .-'Never mind, that's not
My business,' said the vulture, 'now let's go
Or else I'll leave the two of you to rot
Or like the others death-hug vertigo.'

'Why assist us then? What for?' I asked.
Don't question,' it said gruffly, 'I've been tasked.'
And then the ess-shaped stalk that was its neck
Shot to straightness - shocking in effect.

'Come here,' it shrieked. Before I could prevent
Robin from obeying he went near
The grotesque thing. It reached out with a claw
And took him in the side, began to draw

Him closer, and I dashed in to defend
Him, thinking it might tear him with its beak,
But it was nimble and took me also,
Got its talons in my leg - 'Don't speak

Or move,' the creature told us, 'I must fix
My concentration on what happens next.'
It rose, we hung beneath it as if prey -
It strenuously drew us both away

From where we had been standing, then it lowered
To the depth below, its wing beats steady -
Yet it struggled, and the talons on my skin
Were sharp, and as it grappled they pressed in -

I felt a stream of blood flow from the damage
As we hung suspended side by side,
The downdraft of the great wings' flapping
Made us watch a slow descending glide.

Down, down, he took us, into whirling space -
'I'll leave you there to wander - not a trace
Will there be left of you - this universe
Will soon secrete you - nothing for the worse.'

But as we circled down I saw a rift
Within the round wall of the spire
A space within this artificial cliff
Of rough-dressed stone, dark and featureless

Perhaps a cave, perhaps a dirty nest -
I looked meanwhile at Robin being clasped -
A rivulet of blood was running down his chest
Beside the azure flower - I'd last seen

It in the cupped hand of the wounded man
Within the clouded mirror - now again
I saw it on my comrade's skin. The cavern widened -
Held in gripping talons we moved close and then

Fell down, released, heavily upon a ledge.
The cave was deep, led to the unknown
In shadow - then the vulture entered too,
As if by some tremendous gust of wind

Blown down and inwards - skidded, stood
And bobbed its withered head both left and right,
Sniffing from its slitted nostrils. Lewd
In ugliness, and yellow-eyed, it spoke to us:

'Where are you now? The cavern of a memory
Where I was hatched, from which you will depart -
I won't leave for now, I know the traps
You should avoid. Look up, and right away!'

The light I'd seen reflected in its eye
As it was rising toward the gallery
Was not reflection, but some kind of source
Within its head, or brain - substantial force.

At once a light exploded - seemed to
Bore beneath the surface of the leveled stone
And filled the contours of the figures there
And showed a giant figure on a painted throne

And many things besides. I saw myself
And Robin and the places we had been -
Absently I rubbed my thigh, so sore
And wet with blood I shuddered to the core.

The vulture's yellow eyes, inquisitive
Watched us closely as it preened its feathers,
Scrubbed its bloody talons on the floor
Then spoke, grotesque and horribly alive

'That's the Lord of seven worlds, the eighth's
Contested ground that leads you back to Earth.
Here's vanity, insanity and pride -
You know them all, they battle at his side

'Here's the hall of endless war and here's
The serpent who assaulted you, and there
The wolfish children tearing it to shreds,
The high stone towers - emptiness erected

'And here you are again, the traveler,
The city and the children lost, abandoned
Devastated streets, crowds of stunned
Refugees, the magic gelding and the farrier

'Here's the heath and hunger never-ending,
Voracity, the instinct to self-bless -
But there's another world - I'll lead you through
The narrowest of portals - selfishness.

'I know it all from the visiting this cave -
Everything that happens can be seen
By those who want to, and if they can fly -
But if they climb they lose their hold and die.'

I studied all, my eyes drawn back again
To contemplate the person on the throne -
Apart from every world it sat alone
In this depiction - hero, or a fiend

The vulture with its human head leaned back
Against its rudder - yellow eyes protruded
From an apple face - its mouth went slack
And drooled a bit - 'You won't meet him, I think

'But if you do - well never mind, I'll heal
Those bleeding wounds of yours which I inflicted.'
So, it spat unerringly, in turn
On Robin's chest, and on my leg - it burned

But when I looked and touched my scalding skin
The wounds were cured to scars - the pain was lessened
In a moment. 'Now I'll show you how
To leave this tower - better do it now

'Before the lord of seven petals knows -
It's my idea to let you go, not his
And if I hadn't found you, you'd be like
Those friends of yours who plunged in the abyss.'

'Where are their bodies? I would like to bury
Them.' 'No question that you'll have your chance
But sooner than you think, there's nothing wasted
Here, and though there's death, there is no cemetery.'

I looked more closely at the living figures
That seemed to glow and flash within the picture
I saw ourselves and our companions move
Then fade again, like embers in a stove

The figure on the throne leaned down and smiled
Or was it just a grimace - and his arm
Beckoned to them - beings moved in swarms,
Spheroid creatures, comets that defiled

Whomever they approached with rotting sores
And all looked like the folk we'd known before -
Ourselves, or our depictions, also shed
Their skins away, like bodies of the dead

And what was left was mottled, glowing white
As fishes' bellies, fungi in the night.
What's going on? Said Robin, 'look.' Within
The scene was movement, animation

A structure rising, stone by stone ascending -
The tower we had trespassed on presented
As a model, intervals unending
Gallery by gallery segmented

And there I saw on level with the earth
An aperture - like those which bear a birth -
'That's where you must go,' the vulture said,
'It is the womb that ever must be fed.'

Now outside the mouth of this low cavern
Where we stood amazed, a storm was passing
Out of nowhere - wind began to sing
And made the sound of piping in an organ.

'In you go,' the vulture shouted, 'quick.'
It bowed its serpent neck, its span of wings
Covered up the entrance, to protect,
Perhaps, ourselves and other things.

'If he found I freely showed you this
Depiction of your past and future quest
He'd tear me wing from wing, and limb from limb -
There's more of rage and less of love in him.'

'Why did you...' Robin started - 'Look at me,'
The monster screamed, 'at what my shape must be -
He did that, he'll do the same to you -
The same - head for the stretching gate, go through.'

Something fast approaching, bright and dreadful
That seemed a negative illumination
Pressed against the entrance to the cave -
We drew nearer to the ever-widening oval.

'Take your leave, take your leave, go in,'
The nightmare shrieked, and hurled us
With a great gust stroke of pinions
Somehow through the rupture in the scene.

At once we found ourselves inside a silent
Passage, framed and hemmed with squared-off blocks
Of lustrous stone, and at the sides were cells
Staggered on each side - the sounds of bells

Rang softly as we passed them - then emerged
Royal hooded figures, swathed in deep brocade
Soundless and forbidding, alien, huge,
Faces in the shadows that they made

The ringing bells reminded me of Mass -
A parody - a putrid eucharist
Became the formless substance of these ghosts
Unconsecrate, themselves the evil hosts

They did not touch us, barely, as we stepped
Past their cells, or sepulchers, but hung
Above us like the hanged ones on a gibbet
And exhaled voiceless breathings from their lungs

'If one of them would touch me I would die
Of fright,' my comrade breathed. 'And so would I,'
I whispered - and the grisly file went on
Of cells, and ghouls emerging, the soft bells.

'When does this end?' I wish it would,' I said
I feel as if my heart is pumping dread.'
Two apparitions slid and blocked our way
And loomed above us, forcing us to stay.

A doorway to the right, and I looked in:
An oblong chamber, dimly lit, in view
There was an altar, on it were three forms:
The wolfish children, dead, and Leo too

Lying side by side, cadavers, cold
Or pale at least - around their necks were stoles
Of some dark substance - robes of roughened fleece -
As if they had been dressed as three dead priests

I turned away - the chamber on the left
Contained another altar - it was dark
Too dark too see at first - and then a wild
Shock - another altar, and a child

Then a shadow moved across one altar
Eclipsed the other, darkening the corridor -
The Shadow Man we knew - or something similar -
And as the darkness coiled across their faces

I saw them blink, first one eye then another
The girl sat up and looked at Robin -
'Brother!' Flora murmured in a sleepy voice
As if she had been napping merely, by her choice.

Robin left my side, and hurried weeping toward
The little girl, who now sat upright, come
To consciousness again - she spoke the word
Once more to him - but he was dumb

And merely wrapped his arms around her waist
And lifted her, then set her on her feet -
Drops of gladness running down his face -
What happiness when brother, sister meet.

Now on the other side the three companions,
Touched by shadow, also stirred, and sat
Upright and looked around themselves -
Yawned, and stretched like three enormous cats

They stood and looked about, as if surprised
To find themselves entombed, and yet alive -
'We saw you fall,' I told them, 'yet you live.'
They showed no sign of hearing, rubbed their eyes.

Mash, the first to speak, said this:
'I can remember falling, the abyss -
It seemed as if there was no bottom, ground,
But infinitely falling, we went down

'Went faster then - I really was prepared
To die, suffocate from loss of breath
And wondered why this was so long a death
Until I'd clean forgotten to be scared

'Then all at once I seemed to fall asleep
And then woke here - Malish was next to me
And Leo too, and it was silent here
Until I saw your faces, and us three

'Together once again - we should have died
Unless the shaft were bottomless inside -
But where have you and Robin come from, tell
Us where we are - the underworld, in hell?'

The hooded figures moved somewhat apart
From us, but from the paving darkness grew
Into the man shape that we knew -
And on its chest the blood-red beating heart

That was before a flower, now some other thing
An organ made of fire, muted, cherry-dark
That seemed to pump and beat against the dim
Half-blinded dusk within this passage tomb.

'I saw these creatures falling through my realm -
They would have fallen out of time and space
And fallen for eternity or till
The solid stars depleted all their fuel

'And they became like me, a shadow wight
Because they chose their own deaths, yet
They have a role to play.' 'But what about the girl?'
I questioned, 'surely Flora's innocent

'Of any self-destruction.' 'But she will
Be one of mine, I think, if I can kill
Her vulnerable soul, for she had left
The warm forge of the farrier, forgot

'Where she had come from, and was lost.'
All this was spoken in our thoughts, not voice
And meanwhile Flora clung to Robin, he
With one arm round her shoulders, spoke to me:

'Let's leave here quickly, Flora's now with us -
We'll find the way back to the sun again
And then the city - then some way to beat
Those monsters who've destroyed it - they'll retreat

'And then we'll build the city up once more...'
He sounded more excited with each phrase.
'Robin, son, I told him, 'please stay calm,
We don't know where we are, how many days

'If days exist, will add up to return
To places that we knew - if they still burn
And if the war invisible still rages' -
The shadow leaped and closed us all in cages.

Insubstantial iron, cages strong
Enough to fit around us, cling
Against true flesh - phantasms of the mind
And yet authentic dungeons that detained

Us underground, within a kind
Of graveyard-narrow passage, rock-confined -
We warm-blooded shadows held by cold
Ones - travelers in prisons of our fear.

With each of us those royal tall ghosts
Whose cold and ample torsos in stiff robes,
Too big and close, were smothering our wind -
'What do they want,' yelled Leo, 'and who put them in?'

And as I backed from mine, I felt a thought
Trickle through my brain - unwished, unsought -
Of all I'd done before that brought me shame
Unknown to anyone - a lash of blame

That no one knew of raised a stinging welt
Of whip-strokes on my soul - now I felt
The blows of my own meanness, cruelty
Of word, and my contempt for charity

Good deeds not done and brutal ones performed
Calumny, malicious gossip molded
In the furnace of revenge -
A fiend loomed over me - a racking siege

Of my own conscience, memory of ill
That I had done in malice by free will:
Indifference to suffering not mine,
Ego that marooned my self alone

Sharp words said to loved ones, sharper ones to those
Who could not answer back. The injured rose
Inside my brain, their pictures clear
As if they had come out of darkness there

I had betrayed my loving and their trust
In my benevolence - a power lust
As potent as the lust of flesh and blood -
Transformed my servant gifts to servitude

And ever as I writhed, that fiend, or king
Of faceless phantasms would lean over, cling.
To me. As I seemed hopeless to myself, contempt
For how I'd lived changed into desolation

The haunting of the passage-ghoul became distress
And every world inside myself collapsed
And crumpled into little, then to less
Until it was a point, dimensionless

And as a drowning swimmer who submits
Lets the water rise above the mouth
To stuff his snorting nostrils and his eyes,
I swallowed, breathed my death impassively.

Why live a life so formless, hollow
Every thought a poison swallowed -
Loveless, senseless, contemptible,
Rootless yet immovable

Self-abandoned, isolated
Ruined, self-obliterated?
Better to surrender, die
Go formless to eternity.

Self-accusation bit and burned
A toxin self-administered.
I was drawn to where my soul was baited
Lured to trap and snared, annihilated.

All the others too, by their demeanor
Bore this agony of self-confession,
Except for little Flora - pure, uncaged
She wandered in the freedom of her age.

Inside the bars of shadow booths I saw
Tortured comrades twist, their souls were raw -
With them, at their sides, the hooded ghouls
Massive and uncanny, anguish-full.

I felt a sharpened point against my chest -
'Push it in, and then you'll have some rest':
A voice of cold insinuating death -
A silver knife, point-inward, poised to thrust...

'Take the knife, a little pressure, die -
This is a phantom life, a parody
Of parodies, and nothing worth such pain -
I promise you will never hurt again.'

I reached up and firmly grasped the hilt
One moment and parole from all my guilt -
A second of decision, then release
A second's pain and then eternal peace...

'No,' said Flora, please don't stab, that hurts -
Don't you know a pointed knife is sharp?'
Her little face against the bars was pressed -
Her eyes were darkened by the faintness

Of the light. 'What would become of us?
We need you to be leader - we got lost -
Till Mom and Dad come get us you're our boss.'
She smiled at me and shook her pretty head

Then all at once deeply buried thunder rolled
From underneath the passage, or within my soul -
A savage gust of air beat round my head
And blew away my suffocating dread

The ghoul beside me seemed to lift, vibrate
Though dense and massive with its venom-hate -
Then the demons, weightless, spun away like chaff
The bars collapsed like nightmares that have passed

Turned to liquid, flowed and melted down
As ice in summer, black and cold to touch.
I put my finger down and gently dipped
It in the puddle of our madness drying up

And we could breathe, the presence that had stifled
Us with dread was gone, had lifted
As if a healing of our fear had swept
The passage out, with only clean stone left

The five of us were free, the monsters gone
But the man made out of shadows lingered on
The flat wall of the passage, left and right
While open doorways vanished from our sight

He stretched around three surfaces, then spoke:
(His rose-blood heart was beating with each phrase)
'The game is yours, the sport is mine to play
Till darkness comes, and slaughter of the day

'The overlord of blindness sends his fear
And me his ever-loyal cavalier
And all the armies never to be seen
Except by visions focused in a dream.'

Then his body fluttered up a wall
Like candle-shadows, vanishingly tall.
'He's gone,' said Leo. Mash grinned at Malish
'Tell me how a nothingness can teach?'

She laughed, and he stretched out his purple tongue
'First tell me how the bee itself is stung?'
He laughed - a sound like howling at the moon -
'How is a giant city sacked by none?'

They danced around each other, lunatics
With glossy fur and human-funny tricks
But Robin stood there soberer - 'How will we get
Back to where we came from? I expect

Some time has passed since first we came in here.'
'Maybe more than some,' said Leo. 'There -
What do you see?' A crack ran down the floor
More linear than normal - 'What's it for?'

Asked Mash. She bent her head and sniffed
'I smell a scent, though something strange, intense' -
She closed her eyes and went into a trance -
Half-animal - she seemed to have the gift

Of deepest concentration, wordless, fey
I'd noticed it before, now somewhat shy
She trotted on a bit, then stopped to say:
'I think this should be followed right away.'

Off she jogged along the passage, now
Stopping for a moment, now in motion
Until around an angled corner broke
A glowing beam of light - and then we looked

Squinting through it at a normal scene -
A field of grass - long fescue - lush and green -
A low-built cottage set beneath a willow
The frontage made of stucco, colored brown

The sun was normal too, as bright and yellow,
Warm and big as any seen on Earth
The sky was azure-blue, the clouds as white
As woolen puffballs - reassuring sight

The little girl could not keep up - so Leo stooped
And set her on his shoulders, Robin ran
Alongside and the two wolves cantered -
I, half tear-blind, came along, unmanned

With joy to see the open sky once more
And light, the freedom of the living day
That makes us feel eternal - though we are
The children of the sunset - dying stars

In glad relief we rushed across the field
Felt the rough brush of the grass against our legs -
But when we'd come within a foot or two
Of the doorway - none of us would yield.

'I go in first,' said Leo, 'I'm the oldest, wisest
Most experienced, resourceful, clever.'
'That's not what I think,' said Robin, 'never.'
'Neither one is better, I'm the best,'

Malish declared - beating on his chest
With one great paw, and with the other threatening -
He curled his human fingers in a fist -
Mash pressed in before them - 'I go first.'

Yelling, jostling, pushing at the door
They tumbled in, and I came in behind -
We all held back, for seated on a throne
Was that same grinning lord we'd seen, and not alone

Elongated, thin, aristocratic
Flexible in movement, narrow eyed
His face full-chinned and lengthy, humanoid
And yet not human quite - to us allied

Perhaps through some connection in the genes
But possibly outbred to lines of fiends -
His eyes were whiteless, made for more than vision,
Conscienceless, without the least expression

Lifeless as are optics - telescopes
Perhaps, or sniperscopes, the infra-red
Receptors in some instruments of war -
Eyes not of the living, but the dead

'Let's start at once to satisfy your grievance.'
His legs were folded on the seat, he leaned
To one side of the chair and grinned.
'You are my guests, respected and esteemed

'Except for trite, incendiary notions -
A universal city's been attacked
You say, by aliens - that most of it's been sacked -
Some citizens picked out for deportation...

'Et cetera - but nothing could be further
From the truth - there is no grand assault
There is no evidence for an attacking force
No need to hand out blame or to apportion fault

'I've sent my keenest, bravest emissaries
To act as my authoritative scouts
And they report that nothing is amiss
And nothing justifies your odd anxieties.

'Misunderstanding - simply - be advised
To go back where you came from - I'll devise
The easiest of methods to proceed -
Or if you wish' - he smiled - 'fulfill our needs

'We need strong minds and muscles in this
Fertile, sunny country - paradise
I may dare say - only look around you
There's happiness and joy that will confound you.'

'There was no burning city?' Robin screamed.
'And what about our parents? Where are we -
Some rat hole universe? and then the tower - '
'I recommend you don't go to extremes -

'This is my kingdom - warm and sunny place
Where all can prosper - with a happy face -
We have no room for cities I may say -
The horizon is but fifteen miles away.

'And what about that flower that you wear -
Did someone lend it to you on a dare?
Don't you know it's dangerous to touch?
If you don't know that, child, you don't know much.

'Come, give me the flower, and the girl,
An ornament she'd be to any world.
I'll give you good directions, you can go
And find your own way home - though I don't know...'

'But what about the wounded man,' I shouted.
'Believe me, sir, none of it is true.'
'The gelding and the farrier, the shoe? - '
'Those are fairy tales and nothing new

'All folklore, lullabies and nothing more,
Visions before sleep, the hypnogogic
Filled with things that violate all logic
Lacking faith and credit at the core

'Give me the purple flower, souvenir
Of our encounter and your pleasure here -
I'll see you on your way - unless you stay.'
But Robin's face was leaden-white with fear

His lordship frowned and gestured. Robin touched
The azure flower on his chest - clutched
The hand of Flora (Leo'd put her down).
The wolves backed off and growled, beyond reach

But as they growled something growled back
It seemed to come from overhead, a deep
Staccato thunder, but not thunder -
Flora rubbed her eyes, began to weep

'The sky begins to grumble,' said the demon,
'My kingdom is too calm for thunderstorms -'
The girl looked up in wonder at the rafters -
I thought she might have seen a spectral form.

'The world's already old,' the demon said
Its seams are torn in two by novel wonder.'
'No mystery in that,' exclaimed Malish,
'Just a fall of hail, or maybe thunder.'

The wolves - the children - Leo formed a square
With Flora in the center - while I stood
Nearer to the grinning demon's chair -
'The sound's not from the sky,' the demon said.

He stood - his forehead nearly touched the beams -
Thrust his arm in shadow - something flew
From darkness there and wrapped his forearm -
He brought it down so it was visible

A creature human-faced yet animal in body
A grey beast like a badger chimera
Hurled itself in frenzy toward my thigh -
Tore out the wound which had been healed and dry

It leaped in one great bound against the four
Who guarded Flora - the little monster tore
Robin's side with curving talons - blood
Came trickling down his rib cage and his chest

'Blind, be blind, be blind my eyes again' -
The demon passed his hand before his face
'Deeds against the master bleed again -
They summon up my undeserved disgrace.'

His face perverted with satanic fury
Filled with purple blood that made it swell -
'Now I'll be both magistrate and jury -
'Down - I'll make you grovel down to hell.'

His burning spittle showered on our skin -
He reached up to the roof beam, strained and pulled
Until it cracked and broke - the ceiling fell -
'Let my pretty cosmos be annulled,'

He shouted, 'and my dispensation end -
I'll smash up everything and then I'll grind it
In the mortar of immortal rage -
Starve the sky and earth inside a cage.'

We fled the room and tumbled out of doors -
The five of us - the badger beast was gone
(Though in another form the thing returned
Later, in a country yet unknown)

Resembling shadow cages in the tomb
Long waves of shadow rolled across the land
As in eclipses waves of shadow bands
Slide across the surfaces and fields.

Shadows sprang like forests full upright
Bowed to meet the zenith like a tent
And made a dome of darkness in the air -
A sphere around the shrinking firmament

The world's horizon swiftly closed around us
The sky seemed steeper, clouds began to shrink -
This little world made smaller in an instant
Jumped again as if the sky had blinked

We felt pressed in and larger all the while -
The world was shrinking back into a cell
'Give me Flora and the master's flower,'
Shrieked the evil lord - 'I want the child -

I want the active symbol of the rising sun -
In which eight universes round a circle run -
Or else you will be crushed - there will be nothing
Left of you to praise your shining One.'

'Why not give her up?' Leo stared at Robin,
Who held our Flora firmly by the hand.
Leo now seemed knowing, calm and cold -
A little spark of shrewdness flamed behind

His icy stare. The human wolves - Malish
And Mash - stood further off - they blinked
And rubbed their muzzles - sharpness tamed
By something that was dulling - ground and clacked

Their teeth and plucked at their own fur.
'Why not?' they growled, human voices muffled -
What would be wrong with that? She left
Us more than once, why not leave her?'

'You won't touch her.' Robin still defied
His treacherous companions - Flora at his side -
Edged round to conceal her with his back,
Yet the three of them were fast afoot and quick

'Be reasonable,' Leo said. His mouth
Was strangely curved askew, his chin was slack,
A narrow string of drool ran from his jaw.
'Why not?' Mash yelped, 'it's not against a law.'

'Listen to your friends,' the false king said.
Robin's wounds, and mine, still hurt and bled.
'I'll heal you, little man, and heal the child.'
'For what?' said Robin, 'to kill her in a while?'

Desperately the boy sustained his sister
From the touch of his three traitor-friend
Who closed around him - trying to defend
Her - arguing and warding off their hands

Which reached toward her and tried to snatch
Her from his grip - he stood his watch.
Meanwhile they said: 'Let go of her,'
And he replied: 'Get back to where you were.'

They haggled while a sky-borne spot appeared,
A burning spinning sun, but oval, less defuse
Circling overhead - a white hot sphere
Crossing every quarter of the shrinking sky

Full circle, circle once again, as pigeons do
That circle round their dovecote till they rove
Or land at home - this curious moving star
Down-spiraled - by small increments drew near

Still closer, till the angry talking ended
And they looked up slowly, then defended
Blinded eyes from overwhelming dazzle -
Everything stood out in sharp relief

Blades of grass peeled thicker shadows back
To lie along the ground, as densely black
As jet, obsidian or ebony -
Brittle as an agate of chalcedony

Around the sphere a luminous crackling spread -
Like molten metal - crossed along the sky
And then another opened, yet another, till
The universe seemed split by seams of melted lead

All of us bent down before the radiance and heat -
The grinning king himself fell facing down,
His lanky legs outspraddled, slave
From head to foot, the outline of subservient defeat

Yet I saw an edge of glimmering white
One half-open eye, sardonic and rebellious,
Outraged and arrogant and full of fight -
Yet he dared not stir - it was too dangerous

The blazing little sun split like a husk,
The lining white as moonshell nacre
Overwhelming, sumptuous -
And then a splendid man came forth - the wounded man:

'My blood called forth by blood, I heard, and came.'
Leo groveled - 'Lord, I am to blame -'
And though the wolves bowed too they both were mute,
And I, who seemed apart from all, I followed suit

But my leg was all on fire - pain
Swept up and down as if my nerves were stripped
Of its protective sheathing, and a rope
Of many barbs kept lashing at my skin

The brilliant presence seemed to bring more anguish,
Not some ease - Robin as tormented as before.
The bright One said: 'The coming of my kingdom is delayed
Until the last drop of the sacrifice is poured

'And so you will be wounded and self-wounded.'
'Why?' asked Robin, 'why must this be so?'
'Ah, my little watchman, now I see you grow,'
The bright One answered, then he sounded

Robin's chest, as good physicians do
And bent his sacred head to listen to the heart.
He touched the running blood, until it stopped,
Then did the same for me. 'Now I will know

'You by the painful sacrifice you bear,
And every hardship, misery and fear -
For there is still a war that must be waged
Until by lust imprisoners are caged -

'And there may be no victory if those
Who love their own sweet pleasure get their way
And make the world, the sky, all time and space
Come crashing down - like this one on his face.'

'Where's the harm in it? Where's the harm in it?'
The wolves danced all around the fallen devil
'Beat him, stomp him, trample on his tail.'
Leo tried to stop them but he failed.

Jumping, mocking, leaping, bending down
And jumping up again the two exulted.
'Beat him, stomp him, kick him when he's down,'
Yelled the wolves, 'an imp can't be insulted.'

But Leo looked uneasy and the wounded man
Seemed weaker now, his brilliant glory ended -
Slowly, meekly, light supernal faded
All resemblance to a burning sun receded

Into dullness - colder shadows rose and touched
The air with overtones of blue, and evening dusk -
The disk of light itself winked out, was gone
As stars behind a cloud bank fade and vanish

'The rule of sunlight's ended, I'm restored.'
The demon muttered, rising on all fours -
A shiver of cold light ran through his frame
And he began to change - and yet the same

Sardonic look was in his narrow eyes.
The rest of him stretched out, his limbs grew short
Then upon his narrow belly he lay down.
'I feel my strength returning, every sound

'Of mockery is meat and makes me strong.'
Robin led his sister by the hand
Took her for protection to the wounded One:
'Save us, bring us back where we belong.'

The bright One put his hand on Robin's shoulder
But now he looked much weaker, bent and older -
Then his own wounds opened and we saw
Dark blood run down his side, as if a claw

Had raked his ribs and punctured to the bone
And flesh beneath. Flora stared and screamed -
The demon had become a legless thing
Furnished with a human head and leather wings

'I am become the serpent,' said the serpent-man,
And raised full half his length into the air,
Wavering and swaying his prodigious bulk,
Sliding with the lower half, but not too far

He climbed around the wounded man and crushed
Him with ascending, turning coils,
Breathing, spitting venom while the scales
Glittered, dripped with iridescent oils

Bending back the neck and gazing in His eyes
Said: 'I am death the serpent, innocent and wise
In hate.' Threw another coil around His wrist:
'I am hungry, nourish me with lies.'

'Run' said Leo 'No!' screamed Robin, 'no, we can't
Leave our master here to suffer so.'
Robin quickly gave me Flora to protect
And rushed to pry the serpent loose, but slipped

Along the shining mucus that flowed off
The flowing, shifting skin - stupendous effort
Brought him closer. 'Robin, son, stand back,'
The bright One told him - 'take no comfort

'In revenge, it will increase its strength
And weaken mine.' Somehow the wounded One
Twisted at the coils until they changed
In color, and grew smaller - first a band

Of violet, then of indigo, one of yellow,
Shades of orange-red ran down the serpent's spine
Spread until they covered up the belly -
The snake became a rainbow in its prime

Sharp in its divisions. Then with effort shaped
The body clay-like, held it out
Before his bleeding torso, made it curve
Into an arch. 'Now run beneath it, quick

(to be continued)