Old Testament
You tell me
you are ruthless
and vengeful
as God.
Then you grab me
and kiss me
hard
on the lips.
I love God
I answer, tasting
the blood.
I say God
you look good
with your buttons
undone.
Requiem for a Dictator
Like the names of birds
and victims,
we forget you.
Your dictums
dismissed. You fold
into the old
volumes of antiquity,
a desiccated moth.
With no palaces
to speak of, no protests
to suppress,
your mind begins
to wander. Your eyes
deceive you.
Even that loyal
henchman of a heart
is a traitor after all.
Thrown in the face
of your every
command,
its beating slows.
The beatings cease.
