WARLORD
—after Kurosawa's RAN
Praise to the external Western Paradise.
Time to come alone,
time to come to the garden, in exile,
to go back and apologize.
To withdraw within and to wail outside.
—after Kurosawa's RAN
Praise to the external Western Paradise.
Time to come alone,
time to come to the garden, in exile,
to go back and apologize.
To withdraw within and to wail outside.
Enough is enough, he said.
Only the birds and the beasts
live in solitude.
Lift an umbrella over the stupa.
Now I understand it was a trap.
We really are in hell.
The sun grows redder with each visit.
A warrior holds up his severed arm and laughs.
At the ridge, a rain of arrows.
The carnivorous ground irrigated with blood
is a silent harvest meat and bone.
He who wears the sun on his back
dies but once a day.
When the father can find no other way
to surrender his castle, he dies.
The yellow and red armies part like a sea before him.
He who can no longer turn back
is no longer a son; no longer a father.
The inland sea of grasses offers
a kinder harvest to the deposed king.
The jester says, In a mad world
only the mad are sane.
Not one day do I forget, not one night do I sleep.
live in solitude.
Lift an umbrella over the stupa.
Now I understand it was a trap.
We really are in hell.
The sun grows redder with each visit.
A warrior holds up his severed arm and laughs.
At the ridge, a rain of arrows.
The carnivorous ground irrigated with blood
is a silent harvest meat and bone.
He who wears the sun on his back
dies but once a day.
When the father can find no other way
to surrender his castle, he dies.
The yellow and red armies part like a sea before him.
He who can no longer turn back
is no longer a son; no longer a father.
The inland sea of grasses offers
a kinder harvest to the deposed king.
The jester says, In a mad world
only the mad are sane.
Not one day do I forget, not one night do I sleep.
The past comes back in twos and threes
to haunt us—like the melody of a flute, token gifts.
to haunt us—like the melody of a flute, token gifts.
When the widow walks, the noise
of her garments is like the hunger of young birds.
The deposed king wears a helmet of grass and lilies
for plumes, a white fox with nine tails.
The bird who hatched to serpent's egg, died.
We are in the hell, when we've cried enough, we die.
The Azuza Plain is littered with the dead.
The mad old man in the garden thought he was king,
and he asks the trees, why am I here?
The Azuza Plain is littered with the dead.
The mad old man in the garden thought he was king,
and he asks the trees, why am I here?
The ghosts come back to haunt him are alive.
The jester was found crying on the Azuza Plain.
The gathering dead caught the mad king
and the midst of all the carnage, he asks if he is in paradise.
He had three sons who died on the Azuza Plain.
He had no words to excuse himself,
or to forget the bad dream. He asks, is this justice?
The jester was found crying on the Azuza Plain.
The gathering dead caught the mad king
and the midst of all the carnage, he asks if he is in paradise.
He had three sons who died on the Azuza Plain.
He had no words to excuse himself,
or to forget the bad dream. He asks, is this justice?
Do not call back his spirit. He has suffered enough.
Are there no gods? Buddha?
They see us killing each other over and over again
and cannot help us to stop this carnage.
The clothing of the dead are flowers in the grass.
The blind prince on the castle ramparts
was the only witness to the setting sun.
4/9/1987
added 9/17
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