from Animulus
Pray for the mighty who drove hard bargains,
rode them like chariots for good or ill:
emperors, their legions and their gods,
gothic hordes with murder in their chests.
So pray, if that’s the word, for all of them,
for Adolph with his bunker collapsed about his ears,
for Donald the Vain, his sparkling ballroom
crumbling before his eyes; pray for all of us
who stood beside the mighty and agreed;
pray for us in the present hour;
pray most of all for those still waiting to be born.
An extract from a poem emulating Eliot’s ‘Animula’ and titled the same.
Both explore the legacy of birth and the way life defeats that thing we suppose is innocence. Perhaps it is in the beginning but, as the world we seem to be living in demonstrates, few of us are up to the struggle. In the end, it amounts to failed ambition and the shreds of hubris.
rode them like chariots for good or ill:
emperors, their legions and their gods,
gothic hordes with murder in their chests.
So pray, if that’s the word, for all of them,
for Adolph with his bunker collapsed about his ears,
for Donald the Vain, his sparkling ballroom
crumbling before his eyes; pray for all of us
who stood beside the mighty and agreed;
pray for us in the present hour;
pray most of all for those still waiting to be born.
© BH, 2026
An extract from a poem emulating Eliot’s ‘Animula’ and titled the same.
Both explore the legacy of birth and the way life defeats that thing we suppose is innocence. Perhaps it is in the beginning but, as the world we seem to be living in demonstrates, few of us are up to the struggle. In the end, it amounts to failed ambition and the shreds of hubris.
No comments:
Post a Comment