Nepotism.


Since my birth they've said I have his eyes; now
I sharecrop the few arid plots of splintery
Ground beneath the skull, bearing the plow
Rubbed smooth by the dark hands of wintry men,
Dead now, sagaless. The triangle is beat:
We all mop our necks and shuffle in,
Gracelessly edging near the ultimate seat; then
The nails come out, the hammer, the boards to pin
Us (by the shirt) firmly to the wall.

Dicas! Extraordinary. My feet are in tongue &
Groove, roughly sliding on. The call
Of nuns and hounds slip over the sand,
Their voices thin, their bodies stiff as tulip
Wood. With tact I thank God my eyes
Are his, my foot, my hand, my gait, my lip
And crop my margins to these legacies.