3 hours ago
I'd rather watch the clowns
that pick up all the pieces
left over from the chariots
as they crash, the splintered
boards and beams, the horses
for the moment freed
from their deadly burdens,
than the race itself,
agents of the throne
throwing loaves of bread
to the chanting crowd,
the greens and blues and whites
making mad displays
for men they barely know---
I'd rather hear the cries
down at the pits, the surgeons
pouring wine and oil
over skin peeled off,
setting dislocated
joints or broken bones,
and in hopeless cases
hacking off whole limbs:
there, especially when
some jaded priest is summoned
to trust a life to God
that just an hour before
was proudly of the devil,
is proper entertainment.
that pick up all the pieces
left over from the chariots
as they crash, the splintered
boards and beams, the horses
for the moment freed
from their deadly burdens,
than the race itself,
agents of the throne
throwing loaves of bread
to the chanting crowd,
the greens and blues and whites
making mad displays
for men they barely know---
I'd rather hear the cries
down at the pits, the surgeons
pouring wine and oil
over skin peeled off,
setting dislocated
joints or broken bones,
and in hopeless cases
hacking off whole limbs:
there, especially when
some jaded priest is summoned
to trust a life to God
that just an hour before
was proudly of the devil,
is proper entertainment.