This was the element of transcendence
Which set us apart,
When the sea-faring men returned at dusk
And dragged behind them
In the blood red water
The conquered body of Leviathan.
Oh, and the cold city of greyness,
The endless white path
Both liminous and fevered in the
Dusk of the star fallen evening,
When you took in your arms Ikthalion
The mad poet of the Centaurs,
And consented to be a horse's bride.
These were lovers insane,
They came up Bleecker Street in August
And bit off words from scrolls
Which John the Revelator had eaten in days past; these holy feasts brought great wisdom,
And in the fiery shadow of war you cannot
Clutch at Angel's wings like Joseph
At the gates before the dawn.
The sea-faring men were baked
Black by the Sun,
They called the Sun their Mistress,
They lay naked on the deck and begged
The Sun to kiss them.
In salt water dreams they knew her
Passions, in the creaking afternoon
They set out in the shadow of the sails
To capture the wine of the sun.
In Greece I knew you,
In Atlantis I knew you,
In Jerusalem you were known to me.
You are a naiad, I know,
You have loved the mermen & the satyrs
Of the shielded cove.
You have drowned the sea-faring men,
And held them gasping in your
Immortal arms.