The Gadfly's Rhyme

All this as a foot
Hits the ground
Once
Twice
Again
And around

Takes forever
Weighs me down
For my head
Is an anchor
and my feet
Touch the sky

I am a rebel
A rebel am I

Upon this wise Earth
A listener is wise
A speaker
Must shy
From privilege
And from right
Must face
Cruel, calculating
Night
To arrive
Again to listen
Again to silently delight

In the face
Of this
Stupendous sky
This
Immortal sunrise
This
Sweating sigh
Desirous for
A life
Gone by
From a cave
exiled

Oh how
All things pass
From the Earth
Birthed
They pass
From the Earth

Be thee not shy!
Be thou not shy!
Be ye not shy!

There’s no time to smile
Nor have we time to frown

There is no time!
You arrive
You live
You die

That alone is thine

Red Earth
Is a fly
Buzzing
In your ears
And gnawing
At thine eyes

The head is an anchor
Pinned under the sky
The foot is a force
The foot cannot lie

And so
I lay mine down

I am the gadfly
The gadfly I am
I am the gadfly
And this is my sound
And this
This my rhyme
Takes
A long long time
to divine
For I’m
Stealing songs
For stealing’s sake
And setting forth
a great big glam
a slam a dance a slam
circling
landing


bam

I am the gadfly
The gadfly I am
I speak in circles
In circles I speak
All wordless all
with loving hushes replete

Yet these songs are mine!
Arise
Diamondine from my own mind
This sharp mind of mine
This blade and fire’s sign
As long as flesh’s fineries shine
They aren’t and they are mine!

Pre-Socratic, Post-Platonic
The Gadfly grips the gnashing turtle
By its side
By its side the turtle is gripped
And spins round and round
Till it flies

illogical
logic doth
unwind

Soft below
Hard upside
Spins
It spins
And lifts the Earth
Up up up so high

Now halfway around the world am I
I am halfway around the world
and burnished Iron is my home
fair Diamonds load my roaming
when Stones are more than Stones

and in my eyes
I am the Bone
and the Bone
is in my eyes

The whole Earth aloft
Afloat, tempting us as we
Gaze, broad, grinning
Babies in our eyes
Our eyes like babes
Enclosed all wise
With no stock in mind
Nor flesh valued
A fine surprise
When the meaning
Of worth
Dies
To be learned again
In birth
And in a rise
Of flesh
And sighs

Concurrent
divine

And the sweat doth drip
Sweet sweat
From your brow
Rebel Bone
And how
And how it drips
And how
And how she slips
In it
Dancing
Swirling
Prancing
Twirling

She is here
With no book
And no prose

She is here
With bare arms
And no home

She is here
With eyes wide
And soft bones

She is here
With warm looks
And your precious Stone

She is here
But you see her not
How drear

Do you
Don’t you
Not?

Dare you
Daren’t you
Not?

You don’t
Do you?
Oh I see:
you are overwrought

Let me let you
Witness
Spinning as you
bliss

Still turning
the gadfly grips the turtle
By its sides

and spins and spins and
sighs

And what of thine
Thy soft underside
Thy wings and tides
What then of yours
What then of thine?

Have you the fire?
Have you the sign?

I have the fire.
I give the sign.
I dance the fire.
The sign I lay down

A circle
A line

This sign that is not mine
Is nevertheless
Also mine

Quick now
Quick now
No time to smile
No time to frown

All this as a foot
Hits the ground
Once
Twice
Again
And around
Once
Twice
Again
And around

Read the Lyric from the Beginning