The Young Giant

I.

The tears of an unworthy son
Are not cleansing, rather,
They fester where ever they drop.

II.

When an unworthy son is swept away,
A hard hearted father does not weep, but
Only laments what might have been and was not.

III.

At the kaliedescopic center of the crystalline
Shards of my first memories is the hoary, hairy,
cracked and leathery nipple of my benefactor.

IV.

I suckled deeply for years
drawing in the salty sap-like fluid
from his gross unnatural protuberance

V.

The strength of an oak tree is felt in your thighs.
As you embrace the trunk you can feel the tug of the bark
on the hairs of your chest and your bearded cheek.

VI.

I am expanded.
I stride the horizon homeward.
Unexpected prodigality.

VII.

What is the worth of a weakling father?
What is the strength of warped steel?
What is the evil in a warped spirit?

VIII.

A selfish black smith in a small town is an anathema.
Cracked hands creased with the soot of years show no kindness,
Nor does he bear well the burden of his emptiness.

IX.

An evil bailiff is an afront to the world.
Stiff shirt, stiff neck, smooth bole.
Both those he serves and those he rules.


X.

Does a haunted mill grind ghostly grist?
I see shapes in the chaff and dust.
They strike me silly.

XI.

A couple who flies together is soon separated.
The span of a finger's breadth becomes the span of a universe.
Where shall they land?

(The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (paperback ed. 1987), Vol. I, No. 90 p. 357)