Long Flew The Carrion Crow
Long flew the carrion crow
to find this feat
they came over frozen seas
pale as winter roses
and along the jagged edge of the ivory coast
they drifted over forests forgotten by men
where green eyed lions turn and pace
and iron mountains ringed with fire
stab the sky
and I saw them as they scattered down
and gathered, like one legged beggars
around the bones of their messiah
Yes, long flew these dark and hungry angels
through labyrinths of wind
to reach these ruts of ruin
this twisted empty throne, where echoes rule
And I watched them as they fed
through the windows of my skull
grinning among swords, and seashells
and the blood of dead worlds, red as summer wine
And when they lifted, wheeling into eastern skies
one shimmering ebony cloud of wings
climbing toward the sun
I felt peace
my familiar cloak of flesh, my eyes
once haunted by a thousand lies
picked clean
And the subjects of my carnal court
all my sweet medusas
the jesters with their velvet horns
all the sightless minions
dancing in the shadow of my decay
gone, like roaches at the dawn of day
and in the still that followed
nothing remained
but my soul
Long rang the halls of Eden
in those naked days
brown skinned and grape stained
I feasted, no appetite denied
many were the apples, burgundy sweet
that I stole
from the tender gardens of Mephistopheles
And all the while
behind the bronze doors of Pandora
In a dark I dared not know
Shiva waited
to awaken me
to kill me
Long flew the carrion crow
and with him flew I
across Odin’s rainbow
into my own Valhalla
grateful only for this perfect death
the seed of all becomings
