Red-lipped Rubicon

This is an oddity. Not the poem itself, although it is more pointed than most in the poet's catalog. Rather, when he released it a few years ago, he annotated it with a small piece of doggerel and has declined any further comment on the inspiration of the work. Perhaps the key is in the intro:

"what I have made, I can unmake.
what I have done, I can undo.
where I gave, I now take.
saddened by a vision, true."

Here's the poem itself...

Red-lipped Rubicon

As Thor and friends in giants' hall
found themselves against abstracts,
I find myself against the wall
where tentacles now sprout from facts.

That charity should bend to will
and manipulate, in hand to be,
a tool to test the liar's skill
to make a trade of perfidy.

Again I find the false dawn's flaw,
interpreting kind acts for marks
in one whose flesh has shared, to draw,
hard cards and harder yet remarks.

A quickened heart has turned to stone
and it is sad, but forced to frame,
that for your sins I would atone
but that was under passing name.

No more shall I play champion
for one who calls my withering
an opportune smile that has undone
the rationale for bearing ring.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.