In the name of atrocity,
a leaf was shattered
like a crystal wineglass.

Thus was the maelstrom invoked.

And though all that was rootless
was pulled into the vortex,
Saturn was not swayed
from her orbit.

Here are the naked Bacchanal rites,
the strength of silence
and the color of honor.

We will see Saturn tonight
just north
of the astrological pole.

She will grant us power
in the times of the maelstrom
to come.

My voice is afire!
Men from foreign lands listen,
but my closest friends shake their heads
and wonder.
'Is he speaking in tongues?'

The last battleground
will be the West Bedroom
where the picture window
overlooks the Grand Canyon.

A man is tempted by ghostly perfume.
A woman has departed.
She's speaking in tongues
within the gates of the city of love.
Her words are like a two-edged flame.

Saturn fills the night with wonder
and holds the Moon in shadow.
Uranus, tyrant of entropy,
is in descent and
Saturn is at her zenith.

May those who have ears listen!

Love is written in code
on the veins of this shattered leaf;
she is speaking in tongues
at some city gate.

These are the words
of a Drowning Man.

24.IX.82, rev. 20.X.83