Wings For Our Dead
© Surazeus
2018 04 08
Tom joins the circus when he is thirteen
and learns to play the ukulele well
while he rides the white horse galloping swift
so he changes his name to Orpheus.
Each night he stands on the galloping horse
and plucks the strings of light that blow their minds
while singing how we rise from cave of fear
with jewels stolen from the mind of Death.
When Tom is twenty-six he walks back home
and works in the bakery his father runs,
chopping ripe apples for strudels and pies,
while watching girls in white dresses walk by.
Someday, Tom whispers, I will learn to fly
and soar above clouds to the divine eye
who sees everything that happens on Earth
so I can teach them about second birth.
When he is twenty, Tom joins the Air Force
and learns to fly the silver Cessna Bobcat,
but when he soars above the swirling clouds
he finds no bearded God strumming the harp.
Fixing goggles to protect his blue eyes,
Tom flies Republic Thunderbolt in heaven
high over dark mountains of Saxony
to drop bombs on munitions factories.
Explosions shimmer red in rainy night
as Tom Orpheus searches for the light,
but gazing down into the dark abyss
he sees the face of Death gaze back at him.
The screaming bomb blows off tail of his plane
so Tom grips tight the center stick to steer
silver angel of death on broken wings
tumbling down into trees of Saxony.
Crawling from the wreck of his Thunderbolt,
Tom walks into the invisible night
through swirling mist into the Underworld,
and wanders on shore of the babbling brook.
Leaping over the stream of shining stars,
Tom Orpheus walks toward sweet singing voice
and finds young girl who dances in moonlight,
her gold hair swirling in the midnight breeze.
Embracing the trembling girl in his arms,
Orpheus kisses her strawberry lips,
and gazes deep into her silver eyes
where he sees the vast universe swirl bright.
The silver-eyed fairy takes off his gloves
and leads him to the tower on jagged hill,
holding hands as they walk the labyrinth
past faces still alive on mirror walls.
She leads Orpheus to the huge throne room
where the tall slender woman with three eyes
rises from the gold throne of writhing flame
and gives him grail of sparkling wine to drink.
Orpheus drinks the wine that burns his brain
with visions of exploding stars that spin
taut spirals of shining threads into worlds
where naked people crawl from singing rivers.
The Star Queen clutches both sides of his head
and cracks his skull like spotted serpent egg,
then peels his soul apart, stripping his mind,
tearing him into twelve pieces of flesh.
The silver-eyed fairy lifts from his skull
small new-born baby girl with silver eyes
who sings sweet charming tune of wordless hope
and swallows his two eyes down in her heart.
Tom snaps awake beside wrecked Thunderbolt
as German soldiers point guns at his face,
so he follows them to the rumbling truck
where he rides with crowd to the prison camp.
When he turns twenty-two, Tom Orpheus
stands at attention with gaunt prisoners,
trying not to shiver in drifting snow flakes
while German officers shout vile insults.
Marching at gunpoint with shovel in hand,
Tom sees the long-eared owl with golden eyes
who watches while he digs trenches in mud,
and feels its thunderbolt glow in his heart.
At midnight, Orpheus wakes at strange cry,
so he walks past the guards lost in a trance,
and follows Waldohreule in the woods
along the stream that flows down from the stars.
The Waldohreule with moon-gold eyes lands
on rotten tree stump on high mountain top,
so Orpheus kneels and touches the trunk,
feeling electric surge flow through his heart.
"Twelve centuries ago," the owl declares,
"Irminsul, Great Tree of Saxonia,
still stood tall on this mountain, spreading wide
enough to shelter our nation as one."
"Then Charles, great son of Jesus, came like fire,
wielding silver axe to chop down our Tree,
and now we wander far across the world,
still fighting to find our lost ancient homeland."
Digging out the rotten trunk with his hands,
Orpheus tears death from the mountain peak,
and burns it in hot fire while chanting spells,
stretching both arms high to indifferent stars.
Rooting in soil, Orpheus finds new seed,
then plants it in the deep wound of his heart,
and, raising silver knife to the bright moon,
he slashes his chest so his hot blood flows.
Pressing his wounded heart to the dark soil,
Orpheus channels blood of his soul down
that sparks life from the seed of Irminsul
which sprouts and grows from the dreams of his brain.
The roots of Irminsul curl down in Earth
and suck all the blood and cells of his body
so Tom Orpheus transforms from a man
into the Tree that towers over the land.
When Americans arrive in large tanks,
and liberate souls in the prison camp,
they find his mangled body on huge heap
of dead bodies, rotting in the spring rain.
Driving bulldozers into prison camp,
soldiers shove heaps of dead people in graves,
and bury them under huge mounds of dirt
where seeds from oak trees sprout in the spring rain.
Thousands of people gather at the Tree
and sing ancient songs lost in memory
while Orpheus spreads his arms to the sky
and weaves starlight into wings for our dead.
© Surazeus
2018 04 08
Tom joins the circus when he is thirteen
and learns to play the ukulele well
while he rides the white horse galloping swift
so he changes his name to Orpheus.
Each night he stands on the galloping horse
and plucks the strings of light that blow their minds
while singing how we rise from cave of fear
with jewels stolen from the mind of Death.
When Tom is twenty-six he walks back home
and works in the bakery his father runs,
chopping ripe apples for strudels and pies,
while watching girls in white dresses walk by.
Someday, Tom whispers, I will learn to fly
and soar above clouds to the divine eye
who sees everything that happens on Earth
so I can teach them about second birth.
When he is twenty, Tom joins the Air Force
and learns to fly the silver Cessna Bobcat,
but when he soars above the swirling clouds
he finds no bearded God strumming the harp.
Fixing goggles to protect his blue eyes,
Tom flies Republic Thunderbolt in heaven
high over dark mountains of Saxony
to drop bombs on munitions factories.
Explosions shimmer red in rainy night
as Tom Orpheus searches for the light,
but gazing down into the dark abyss
he sees the face of Death gaze back at him.
The screaming bomb blows off tail of his plane
so Tom grips tight the center stick to steer
silver angel of death on broken wings
tumbling down into trees of Saxony.
Crawling from the wreck of his Thunderbolt,
Tom walks into the invisible night
through swirling mist into the Underworld,
and wanders on shore of the babbling brook.
Leaping over the stream of shining stars,
Tom Orpheus walks toward sweet singing voice
and finds young girl who dances in moonlight,
her gold hair swirling in the midnight breeze.
Embracing the trembling girl in his arms,
Orpheus kisses her strawberry lips,
and gazes deep into her silver eyes
where he sees the vast universe swirl bright.
The silver-eyed fairy takes off his gloves
and leads him to the tower on jagged hill,
holding hands as they walk the labyrinth
past faces still alive on mirror walls.
She leads Orpheus to the huge throne room
where the tall slender woman with three eyes
rises from the gold throne of writhing flame
and gives him grail of sparkling wine to drink.
Orpheus drinks the wine that burns his brain
with visions of exploding stars that spin
taut spirals of shining threads into worlds
where naked people crawl from singing rivers.
The Star Queen clutches both sides of his head
and cracks his skull like spotted serpent egg,
then peels his soul apart, stripping his mind,
tearing him into twelve pieces of flesh.
The silver-eyed fairy lifts from his skull
small new-born baby girl with silver eyes
who sings sweet charming tune of wordless hope
and swallows his two eyes down in her heart.
Tom snaps awake beside wrecked Thunderbolt
as German soldiers point guns at his face,
so he follows them to the rumbling truck
where he rides with crowd to the prison camp.
When he turns twenty-two, Tom Orpheus
stands at attention with gaunt prisoners,
trying not to shiver in drifting snow flakes
while German officers shout vile insults.
Marching at gunpoint with shovel in hand,
Tom sees the long-eared owl with golden eyes
who watches while he digs trenches in mud,
and feels its thunderbolt glow in his heart.
At midnight, Orpheus wakes at strange cry,
so he walks past the guards lost in a trance,
and follows Waldohreule in the woods
along the stream that flows down from the stars.
The Waldohreule with moon-gold eyes lands
on rotten tree stump on high mountain top,
so Orpheus kneels and touches the trunk,
feeling electric surge flow through his heart.
"Twelve centuries ago," the owl declares,
"Irminsul, Great Tree of Saxonia,
still stood tall on this mountain, spreading wide
enough to shelter our nation as one."
"Then Charles, great son of Jesus, came like fire,
wielding silver axe to chop down our Tree,
and now we wander far across the world,
still fighting to find our lost ancient homeland."
Digging out the rotten trunk with his hands,
Orpheus tears death from the mountain peak,
and burns it in hot fire while chanting spells,
stretching both arms high to indifferent stars.
Rooting in soil, Orpheus finds new seed,
then plants it in the deep wound of his heart,
and, raising silver knife to the bright moon,
he slashes his chest so his hot blood flows.
Pressing his wounded heart to the dark soil,
Orpheus channels blood of his soul down
that sparks life from the seed of Irminsul
which sprouts and grows from the dreams of his brain.
The roots of Irminsul curl down in Earth
and suck all the blood and cells of his body
so Tom Orpheus transforms from a man
into the Tree that towers over the land.
When Americans arrive in large tanks,
and liberate souls in the prison camp,
they find his mangled body on huge heap
of dead bodies, rotting in the spring rain.
Driving bulldozers into prison camp,
soldiers shove heaps of dead people in graves,
and bury them under huge mounds of dirt
where seeds from oak trees sprout in the spring rain.
Thousands of people gather at the Tree
and sing ancient songs lost in memory
while Orpheus spreads his arms to the sky
and weaves starlight into wings for our dead.
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