Return to innocence

no

I did not need a mirror to see my blood

deserting its own artery for another

nor did I need my flesh flaking

in the view of the public

at the sound of this name or that

the quest?

I need it

to give my soldiers their Caligula

someone to follow to their death

with eyes tightly shut

and fingers clenched to their swords

a pair of cracked lips to sip wine with

from rusty pateras

in the early hours of dawn

before the enemy strikes

my hands?

oh, my hands are innocent

the left will caress young Jew hair

the right will carry on

playing Bach

...