Terms of
Use
Submissions
~ By Courtesy of Others ~
Vessel
Sometimes it would just happen.
He never knew how it happened
or the exact moment it happened
but there were fleeting times
when he felt fairly filled up
with the body of the god, as if
the god had squeezed himself
through the bars of his bones
and taken over everything he was -
his hands, his feet, his tongue,
his laugh and righteous indignation.
Sometimes he was a wandering tramp
looking for knowledge, craving experience
like a junkie craves meth or the
tide craves the pulling of the moon.
Sometimes he raged in the
invisible skin of a rabid bear
fighting anyone foolish enough
to cross his scent-marked path and
sometimes he was a singer sucking
at the ground for just the right word.
Sometimes he hurt himself,
subjected himself to the gawking
and mocking of humanity’s herd,
just to harvest something from
the choking and the pain.
Sometimes he was a Father
in a world full of children and
sometimes the only thing he knew
was he would never know enough.
Sometimes he knew with irresistible
certainty it would all come to an end.
The song would cease in the middle
of a note, the world would grow dark,
the ring would slip from his finger,
the walking stick would break and
the waiting wolf would take him
© Jim Wise