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Stone Song

the dolmen rises on the moor

(i remember
the old gods: sun, moon, stars, earth:
Pan and Gaia dancing in the deeps of time;
i remember)

in the church overhill, sundayworship:
in they file, hymnsingers all
lighting candles counting sins

(i remember: fire and dark...
they burned the groves; they
tried to break me)

the mass is over: singers gone,
the church sits locked and empty in the sun.
a traveller touches the stone; is stirred
and stays a while.

(the old gods only slumber in the earth:
bloody-handed churchmen could not kill them.
the old gods only slumber in your heart)

the dolmen rises on the moor;
the churchdoors gape and shut and gape and shut again.

(i'll be here when they are gone)

(April 30, 1982)

Very little of my early free-verse poetry seemed worth saving in retrospect, nearly twenty years later. This was one.


Back to Eric's Poetry Page Up to Site Map $Date: 2000/02/24 06:52:35 $

Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>