Stateless

(April 2012)

 

A contemporary woodcut image of Francois Villon

STATELESS

yet I have found one faithful friend: the fog.

By fires, I have endured the test of frost.

My paths are marked by dead wildflowers: even

the festive seasons wither from our breath.

sunshine holds my frame in still caress.

and been despised and welcomed everywhere.

My dress: a leaf that graced a bygone tree.

My rising sobs have burst in wary taverns

but in the graveyards I have laughed my fill,

Upon my stubborn curls, the spell of autumn

collects its silver while, a child forever,

I cross this freezing landscape never pausing,

and live despised and welcomed everywhere.

Triumphant stars erect their vast cathedral

above me, and dew calms my feet below

as I pursue my fleeing god in grief

and sense my world through every pore in joy.

My share of life has been the worst and best,

in squalor and beneath the whitest pillars,

a guest despised and welcomed everywhere.

Between my legs, the playful wind alone

blows a merry duet with my arse.

I wish that I could quell the foolish fears of

the local folks, that they would look at me

beyond my status, and would prize my gift,

The time may come when all my words will rhyme

and I will dip my pen in molten gold

some wizened thicket, and remain forever

a voice despised and welcomed everywhere.

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