Three Songs: The Salt Heart

      Sang the burning lion from the fierce mountaintop:
      Death's insults emanate from ourselves;
      Terror riven images that complete
      Man and heaven, heart and feet.
5     Scarlet briars in her hair---
      Love from I know not where
      Descends the bitter air.
      Sang the burning lion from the fierce mountaintop:
      The empty prosecution of the skies
10    Stares at a struck stage
      The tired heart derides,---
      Man's best instincts gambled there---
      And the watery heart about to burst
      All lose out to the worst.
15    Sang the burning lion from the fierce mountaintop:
      Beaten man twists his neck to curse,
      White head in heaven
      Golden heart in a hearse---
      A scolded boy or oblong body bends
20    Dark by uncertain suavities of fire to request
      The sea's intercessions.

 

From the collection "Burning Byzantium"

Written by Gregg Glory [Gregg G. Brown]

More information available on gregglory.com.