"When
wounds did not hurt those who inflicted them
"I was born in a city built
over the desolate garden.
"The fall was an obscure event involving grandparents.
"I looked back without loss to an uncushioned womb,"
said Thaw,
rolling
the syllables over and under his tongue. "Logic
first made the world my bleak home, showing
"economy under orgy, the
use of agony,
"the importance of death, the necessity of dragons,
"and
cold a tooth which fitted every wound,"
said Thaw,
rolling the syllables
over and under his tongue. "Though
fearful as a child I always dreamed
"of the lovely woman, strong friend,
right employer.
"Now I have seen two Beatrices choose murder.
"Friends
were responsible. No employer helped,"
said Thaw,
rolling the syllables
over and under his tongue. "And
so I came, I and my knotted fist,
"to crack my dreams and suck marrow
from them:
"isolated, arrogant, unschooled to receive,
"a leper
in armour on a conspicuous height,"
said Thaw,
rolling the syllables
over and under his tongue. "I,
who should climb mountains, stand on a rostrum.
"Nobody claps me. The
height is not enough.
"I will now go up the side of that common pinnacle
"no one uses for pedestal, nobody knowing the top,"
said Thaw,
still
rolling syllables over and under his tongue. |