Cages IV

I parody St. Sebastian,
climbing high among the boughs and limbs,
and hands of good people—
you whom I have known and changed
and loved, and brushed my fingers
past your faces that you may
know the stars again,
and speak to the ringing of halos
that flutter
past your once imprisoned eyes.

I dance through the veins of town,
las vías de las villas españolas,
I weave a ribbon through your windows
a mosaic of punctured names
scattered one by one across the catacombs;
I wave away Apollo's blackened hand,
and march with your sons
and daughters
into the fields of thunder and lighting.

And from these branches
through swollen slits of light
I watch
as archers lift up their bows,
pull taught their strings, and sing
the strains of violins, (each note
pierces with its graceful flight);

With every breath I know
the music is for me, and I
drip liquid rubies.