Picked like a red flower, smitten by red earth
Invisible at sunset, shaded at soft dawn
Hear a word made flesh, see a being but no birth.
What were blue and red saying, was it a curse?
As the graduates crossed, in red gowns , the green lawn
She picked a red flower, tore the red earth
In the immeasurable ellipse, drawn into the next verse.
The sign of the cross broken, the illuminations torn
Hear a word made to be spoken, see a being of no birth.
Were the strangers forsaken, were their minds cursed?
See the decorations of fire, see the scars new born
Lit by red flares, buried with new baptised earth
Oh,sweet-bitter eros dying, hanging gardens of death
Shall Babylon be summoned by the ancient ram’s horn?
Hear a word made dross, see a being but no worth.
Where is my silver needle, my thread long and forlorn?
Where can we acknowledge the dead, the never to be born?
Picked out like a red flower, shot down in red earth
Hear his flesh die wordless ; give a Bible a slow birth
