THE DAINTY MONSTERS
Michael
Ondaatje
back next
|
Pyramid
For days they had toiled
sun baked, naked,
raging in the sun
their yells muted in the vast afternoons.
In rhythm they swung like leaves
and broke the horizon
nails
joining the starched blue to sand.
And while it grew
I watched them heave
trailing their boulders to the moon
and at dusk saw the shadows run.
Timeless here
they perfected degrees
allowing for heat and burn
and to pulsed commands
jack-knifed like chimes.
Those were their minutes,
distant I saw them mime pains
and saw their bodies churn,
pivot, sweat leaving them oiled.
And finishing they circled and prayed
and led me deep into the ground,
positioned me by a mirror
and scaled the form they made.
I watch
and in our conversations
grow profound.
|
