Book II, Chapter VIII

▻ SWORD

1.

Homeless, outcast, M
had yet

to know another
man. The night

had grown yellow. And
from the moon

came

a love-song of the damned.

2.

M, stifling, threw off

his boots, his
clothes. His dazed

brain like
so much skyr.

He had
the words in his pocket:

“governor,” “husband.”

3.

At parliament
house, he

saw no one. The man
he looked for,

the doorkeeper,

the governor, was
gone.

It was a time of
revolution.

4.

In a by-street,
a threadbare drunk

told him
the governor haunted

the hard man,

sure as dusk. He broke
the old

and the young
like beasts.

5.

O, assassin, god of
murder,

defeating men

stealthily as
a cat!

M felt
his member swing

and knew
too well what was to be.

6.

A horse under
the lash, M

startled. Smoke and
foul vapors

came
from brawlers

lounging
at the door of a tavern.

Lustily

M juggled himself.

7.

The two lay at his
feet, and

he came
without flinching. All

seemed as
he had pictured. There

was the door.

There was the path, free
and red.

8.

Ah!

The blood, sweet blood.

The full swell of
the organ.

M, sunk in
lava,

the men's breeches, gray
stockings,

their snuff and guns.

9.

Under
the shadow of

a dream, the dog
in

the judgment seat,
the governor,

said, laughing, “M
deserves

a good snapping up
from behind.”

10.

M tried not to
listen, but

his organ cried.
Hard,

bloodshot, he pressed

down to the brink of
hell.

Dizziness seized him.

11.

The mountains. The sea.
The troubled

heaving. M was
kissing

deeply

the man bending
over

him, an angel of
peril, pale as ashes.

12.

“Lord,”
said the affectionate

dog, “I am
hungry.” Sweat tugged

his clothes off.

The night hung

low as if snow
might overtake the fiord.

13.

A horse was
circling. M loved

with
a love that maddened

him, and
when he came, who

was before him with
a white face?

A husband.

14.

“Have you come for
me?

the silence. “I alone
am

before you.”
The husband, heavy, antique,

laid
one powerful hand on

the lever.

15.

M feel
back. The husband

said, “You follow
me?

Deny it

if you will, but I
warn you.

I show
no pity.” The room

was full
of snow and blood.

To be continued…