For the secret love of fate

And the bare rock of destiny

I will fain sacrifice myself

On an altar of my own.

To swallow the serpent whole

And burn in solar rays

Alighting as a raven

That feeds on one’s head.

In the greenfield’s middle

Where the game grows on

The black ball is flung

From player to played.

Oh deepness, oh joy

Oh sacred godly game

Oh origin, oh tomb

From the solar mother high.

But there is food, and flowers

And a workaday week

Sipping coffee, viewing screens

Watching vapors unfold.

Sweet kin, tight friends

and lovers so jealous

the old man on the stoop

surveying the neighbors.

atone for deep dreams

with a roast and wine

and be quickly redeemed

with human hours lived.