adapted from Baudelaire's The Giantess, tr, by R.Howard

had you been there

when primal nature teemed

with monstrous progeny

you would have tried

to nest beside

some gyant god

the way that cats

sprawl at the feet

of those who feed them.

loving to watch him breathe

you would see his lower arm

grown tremendous

with his terrible games.

and you would study

rain-clouds forming

in his darkening eyes

to know what thunders

gather'd in his heart.

scaling the slopes

of his enormous legs

you saunter through

the landscape of his lap.

and when fetid summer

makes him stretch

across the lands

you will sleep, untroubled

in the shadow

of his arm--

a peaceful homestead

at the mountain's base.

Xamyul's Saturnine Kosmos