Open! Open! Open!
Open! Open!
Under blazing pillars of sun,
far from the amusements I won,
numb before the arid expanse,
perishing within the viper’s glance.
Settled with my children about,
blind ambition harried me out.
Halted on an unworn track,
no horse left to drag my spirit back.
Trade is what they say we’ve come here for.
“Go until you reach the western shore.”
On, on, on. Winds to take away your breath.
On, on, on. Loading guns and loading death.
On, on, on ‘til I hear my final ode.
I’ll keep on until I ease death of its load.
If death’s a house then I’ll go in and…
make my abode!
Open! Open! Open!
Open! Open!
“Silk must have safe passage soon.
Now’s the Middle Kingdom’s noon!”
Round me flames the sanded sea.
Nothing more to open in me.
Nothing more to keep me off my back.
Water’s draining from an empty sack.
On, on, on. Winds to take away your breath.
On, on, on. Loading guns and loading death.
On, on, on ‘til I hear my final ode.
I’ll keep on until I ease death of its load.
But let me be the one to open…
open the road!
Open! Open! Open!
Open! Open!
[Previous: The Window and the Faces in the Rain]
[Next: Three Poems Plus One]
[Molly's Song (and Other Poems) homepage]