Page 16 - Contrast1962v6n1

study in imagery

anonymous

Plain rock, bare, upon a hillside,
Naked, raped, white body of woman,
Secret-suppressed,
God-proud,
And silent.

Climb up, now slipping, now crawling
Over bare white breast of stone
Reaching the green,

The moist and ugly dark sod,
(Wet dust from which men come,
To which all men return.)

Tripping over tufts of straggly green,
(How fierce the ugliness!)

Reaching now the mad maze of virgin forest

(With body of hidden secrets and intricate
Beauty of virgin-girl)

To stare at rain-soaked bark-covered bodies,

And trample the seed, the fruit, the offspring,
Of these lonely statues.

(Strange that they hold lije;

How fearful their endurance, awesome their age.)

And now run, unconscious of thought or body,
(Except cold wet on nose),

Run Over tiny suddenly-extinguished life,
Trip Over cold stones-without-feeling,
Tremble in bleak darkness.
Run mad-dog-human

That can no longer belong to the world
Of stones and acorns and silent existence!
With wet body, halted mind,

Throat whence issues the fearful animal cry,

Feet that slip as they run through a god's deathtrap;

Run through a world to which men no longer belong.
Run into oblivion.

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