Phaethon

…and one whole day, or

so men say, went by
without the sun.
- Ovid

Father
An ungentle noise
We both fear
Bursts upon my ears.

The cloven smile

Of a voiceless God
Costs me faith
And faithlessness.

I bestride
A lacquered world
Beneath a soft,
Black sky

And if I name
The thunder there
The voice I hear
Costs no more

Thank what this face,

First purchased, cost:
A lacquered world,
That black, soft sky.

II

Course-fled steeds,
Mountains gain.
I’ve no name

Or season to me.
Ride. Rise up.
A chosen sky,

The cradled spheres,

The voices of heaven
Sing in my ears.

For once, alone,

Much magnified,
The voices of heaven sing.
 III

Spinning off,
One against the other,

False name
Against false name,

A certain multitude
Of light

Blisters the brown-edged

Carriage frame.

His voice
And darkness sing

Night’s
Harder freedom.

Pull down your shade

On harnessed flame.

He shouts
Across un-navigable fields

You’ve not the strength

To view.

His reins have held

These horses to the course.

Much less your hands

Will tame.

Your song,
Your blazing hair

No melody
Can mend.

Your tethered voice

That should have saved,

Owns, where life darkens

And death begins.
 IV

Turn
Upon your ill-shed tears
And teach them memory
Of day.

No night
Is cleft
With fire-streams.

No star
Storms against your eyes.

Make felt
The hidden learning there.

Name
The faceless
Shock and shade.

This night
Is as no others were
But that should make you
Least afraid.