The Dust Dance

[Ugly Dougly]

For I, with the shape of my kin, the ape,
And the soul of a soaring hawk,
I fought my way from the jungle grey,
Where the hunting creatures stalk.

For I was made of the dust and the dew,
The dust and the clouds and the rain,
The snow and the grass, and when I pass,
I'll fade to the dust again.

I laughed when Nero's minions sent
Fire-tortured souls to the sky.
Without the halls of Pilate's halls,
I shouted "Crucify!"

I roared my glee to the sullen sea
Where Abel's blood was shed.
My jeer was loud in the gory crowd
That stoned St. Stephen dead.

You say God's spark has kindled my eye,
As the sun-rise reddens the east;
Into your beards I roar the lie-
'Tis the gleam of the stalking beast.

Oh, ye prophets, men of Israel,
Doff the sandal and the staff-
Moon rise silver over Kabul-
Follow me and learn to laugh.

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The men go up and the men go down
And who shall follow the track of men?
The dust spins slow in the desert town,
And a fog drifts white on the silent fen.

The sword is broken, the sheild is bent-
Our backs are at the wall;
Stark and silent they lay who went
To harry the coasts of Gaul.

From the north's blue deeps our galleys sweep
To south and west and east;
We bring our bows from the northern snows
That the great grey wolves may feast.

**********************************

Grim, grim, grim the elephants were chanting,
Chanting in the jungle in the dim, dark dawn;
Through the waving branches were the late
stars slanting.
Beating up the morning ere the night was gone.

Lion in the morning, crouching by the river.
Red birds flittering with a sing-song shrill.
Morning like a topaz, with green fronds a-quiver.
Scent of lush a-wafting in the dawn air still.

Moses was our leader when we came up out of Egypt-
Came up out of Egypt so many years ago-
When I think of magic, I always think of Moses,
Riding down to glory while the hauntboys blow.

Oh, the plain was dusty-how the heathen roar!-
Joshua and Israel! Hear the trumpets blow!-
How we shook the desert!-thank a Canaan whore-
Roaring in our triumph at the walls of Jericho.

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Oh, Jezebel, oh, Jezebel,
They hurled you from the wall,
And all the priest and prudes of Israel
Gave thanks to see you fall.

But I could laugh with Jezebel,
And kiss her on the lips,
And strip the scarf from off her breasts,
The girdle from her hips.

For I foreswear Elijah,
Forget that Adam fell,
To press the waist of Lilith
And laugh with Jezebel.

Oh, brother Cain, oh, brother Cain,
I take you by the hand,
For Abel was the first prude
To cumber Eden's land.

Then down the road that leads to Hell,
We strode, a merry band-
Sargon, Belshazzar, Jezebel,
Cain with his bloody hand.

-REH