The Michael Toy

Poems and Other Programmes


bab el


two days i will never forget

the first

the day we set the first stone
large enough to crush an army
the ground shaking with fury
as we  lay it down

that very monument, dwarfed
by the site, made level,
so vast that the dream of filling it
seemed an empty jest

gods, the courage we had then
to feel the weight
of every stone to come
and still imagine ourselves
powerful enough
to build a mountain

we sang songs
maker songs
warrior songs
so many voices
i will remember
the resonance of the final chord
until i become dust

the last

we were so close, almost done

it would inhale a shadow in the morning
calling it home from distant un-named lands
'til at noon it would pause and then
exhale out to evening and
the other side of the world
an image of what
could be wrought from dreams

it was nearly impossible
to draw breath in that shadow
to see it was to become meaningless
yet it proved us mighty

the angels destroyed it all

our dream of power shattered
not a stone left standing
to give testimony

having torn it down the angels turned
on us, and made themselves certain

we would never again
sing those songs

that day also
i will never forget
'til i become dust

though i pray
that day
will come soon

Path: Theopoetics