King Irving

after Irving Layton

Adopting a splendid guise,
Me, gargantuan, straddling the towers of Notre Dame,
Ushering clouds here and there
I look deep into the eyes of Europe;
My trumpet sailing stereophonic sound is
shaking gray dust
From the bricks of the world.

And the women suddenly faint,
The sultry, bestial ring
Almost past recollection
To their dried cells;
The men stand cemented,
Their eyes stupefied
Staring at the sun-tanned Israelite.