Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Run Away, Anubis

In Egyptian mythology, Osiris married his sister, Isis, was killed by his brother Seth, and his body was burned in several parts of Egypt . After his resurrection, Osiris was no longer able to dwell on earth, and fled to the underworld where he became judge of souls. He was resurrected by his other sister, Anubis, goddess of embalming.

Run Away, Anubis

Where have you gone and where have you been?
He waits and weeps in the nightmare sand,
Rotting in the roasting sun.
His flesh little more than the pulp
Of a crushed tomato,
Baking in an oven valley for its third day.

Why have you waited so long?
The meat of his five fingers
Winds like Grettle’s trail,
Leaving only bloodless bones
To search from the Nile to Stygian Shore,
Hunting for the other five.

Cavern for a cranium, two-thirds consumed
By a lone, circling vulture.
His languishing raw-hide thighs,
Once powerful vehicles of might and speed,
Twitch and disintegrate to grit among sand.

Have you enough fluid left
To parch the one deflated, juiceless eye?
Defunct, vapid staring orb
That sees none but Elysian Fields
And freshly turned soil.

Have you the strength to squeeze
That perished muscle trying to remember
To pulse, floundering mass that aches,
Desperately drawing in and out for blood
Long since drained, wizened, and thirsty?
The scorched casualty of heat and wind.

Have you stomach enough
To find his carious corse
Beneath the teeming maggots?

Even now he wails and counts the hours.
His nether realm stagnant, waiting for creation…
His flesh longing for your resurrection.