Grendel


Yet he abides,
in rock and mud entombed,
and with his final blood,
he feeds the land;
no earthly king shall rule
without a morning taste
of Grendel.

Nor any human place arise that has not Grendel at its base and underneath its pediment; the welded flesh and excrement, motherless scream of motherkilled child; of Grendel.

This is the place which Grendel owns; this the terrible ground, this the elder heritage: may no thing grow which does not grow in cruel death and Grendel.

All pomp, pretense and civil fiction, Child of Day; Child of Light; believe it at your peril, and think, today of elder things and mighty, waiting, deep-within-you Grendel.



©  Copyright, 1999; Malcolm Beckett


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