header

Emperor’s Jacket

The thickening quiet and ice — he could not know
what lay on the new path before him or who,
hidden in the bracken, awaited his trial there.
He did not see that the emperor's silk jacket
was really knotted and spotted with mud …
it had felt so smooth and generous at the table
when they beckoned each other into a union
of lasting effects.
He had not seen the photos of prey dripping
blood from the tiger's mouth on the wall there
blood that would soon intermingle with his — he
careening in a mire barely half his own making