Fire in the Skull

To burn always with [a] hard, gemlike flame . . . is success in life.

—Walter Pater

And the ocean water stirs

In salt-worn casement and porch.

Plies the blunt-nosed fish

With fire in his skull for torch.

—Walter de la Mare, “Sunk Lyonesse”

Burning a hard gemlike flame,

Probing deadly, just a game—

Polymorphous perverse conjecture—

We in extreme spirit venture,

From Southern Seas to Northern Lights,

Seeking thrills and novel sights

From the heights of Hurlevent,*

Not much grasping what we can’t.

In the far future, with our dug-up bones,

Archaeologists will unearth our phones,

Relics of the Anthropic Age,

Glad in New Lyonesse to have skipped that page:

No click-bait come-ons to enrage,

Idiotic gossip to depress.

* Les Hauts de Hurlevent is the French title of Wuthering Heights.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025