I Have Waited

I have waited in the corners
Of dark corridors so long
That my hopes there’d be an answer
Have turned out so very wrong.
I have lingered in cold tunnels
Where black rats disport at night
And where moted airs recall the
Cruciality of light.
I have pondered over many
Tomes that gather ancient dust
’Neath the shades of pitted sword-points
And other monuments of rust.
When the air grows pale with laughter
From the throats of ragged crows
“How dare I write on parchment
And my views on them impose?”
Come, let’s travel on together
Through the world’s decaying sphere
And be glad we’re not so empty
As refuse a dying ear;
When the carnival is closing
And there’s nothing to foretell
Let’s spread the cards upon the table
With candle book and bell.
And when we see them drowning
In stagnant pools of slime
Let’s hang them all from meat-hooks
And open up the wine.
We’ll laugh at their gyrations
As they scrape against the wall
(And some of them are lonely
And others are too tall.
And some are coloured like the night
And some are pale as geese
But the gospel of the Fuhrer is
Kept in a black valise).
When children of the future
Look back on us and laugh
They’ll also sit in corners
And lean upon their staffs.