Confession to the One-Eyed Man March 20, 2008

“And that prince who bases his power entirely on…words, finding himself completely without other preparations, comes to ruin;”

— Niccolo Machiavelli

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

– Desiderius Erasmus

“A long way I have come
a long way less
a bag of odds and ends.”
The Fool confides in the one-eyed man
he has met on the Way.

Far be it for the Fool to venerate
this godsend, for times have
jilted him and honor escaped.
The Fool respects nothing but the dead
and obscurity beyond the grave. He says,

“Some friends yes some friends
diluted this wine shared this endless
my black move my white move
a line written a line understood.
Succubus still does visit
endless Succubus the years of pleasure
endless Succubus your birthing lips.

For the eyeless win from each possible view
even when unbeknownst to them
black night thunder comes

a hundred years of toil suddenly virile.

In the seed sleep is becoming

my fingers into a foetus-ball
the salt of anemone stings my eyes, water on water
on the free water
I see my face cowering beyond repair.”