An Eschatological Psalm for Pediatric Malaria Patients
Veil of the sacrosanct harbors the bed
a bastion, sudarium—mosquito net.
Thereunder, the child, asleep and I
in the doorway parse the darkness awhile,
knowing around us the woebegone wild
Silence! The horror drone! A derelict haunting the concrete and tile…
Anopheles gambiae, arabiensis, funestus
Nosferatu
Abyzou
The death god Osiris
on a carmine parabola to plunge and devour,
poring the veil to swallow the
heart of my own heart, be still
for mine is the body, and raise it I will,
with leviathan yielding under my hand
as the curve of earth and sky meet again
will I close the mouths of the beasts on the
veil of the sacrosanct harbors the bed,
the bastion, sudarium—mosquito net.
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Poem: John Edward Ellis
Image: Pixabay remixed