Sybil

You descended into hell.You plunged, razed it with your eyes –This song is in praise of you.You descended into hellin a boatwith the outstretched branch of your kindness.You burned into hellYou pocketed the stone of my deathand flung it at the foreheadof the last lake.You kissed the cold penniesof my eyesAnd in hell, amongst the slithering tongues,You take one, and fixit to the pitof my mouthAnd everywhere lead meby its wag.You swagover the deepYou burst from the oceanwith dry feetYou cast the sinking hookof my wrong.And do you knowthis corner hurts,this hurts, this governmentbitter as a hookin my mouth.I would curse youSpit the tyrannyof youIf you had not shown me firstThe boned flesh of youThose holesYou will never heal.You are hell.You breathe hell. You expel it.You devour hell.And I, too, am in hellUntil I love You.You are fearfully and terriblyYou.You burn bright in the forest,You made You.You burn bright in the forestWith red eyes.Every day I wake up I openinto a scarecrow.Every day we feel the blowof the earth’s jitters.You must scare away my crowThat dark pecking dawThat dark pecking dawStill at it, still at iton my sleeve.Gibber it outof its witsIncinerate its beakRaze the earthwith those eyes.____________________________________________________________________________Judith Huang ‘09, an English concentrator living in Currier House, is the Fiction & Poetry Editor of The Ichthus.

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