Once upon a ship-(of-state)-wreck, where The sun had shrunk the world at last to a true Stature of deserving--the ant for unit-- I lay on earth tide-flung, obtruding Miles of heart and mind, an alien hulk Into a thumb assemblage. My feet Were scaled as mountains. Fearful I was Lest, rising, I dislodge a crossbeam Of their skies. And this was well, I Proved obedient to their laws: alien minds Must learn recumbent postures. A brief Impulse to unguided knowledge raised A shower of needles, full-fanged, venom-bodied. I took their meaning, pressed my hands To earth. They quenched my fleshly thirst In draughts of Lethe, and I was plunged Deep in mindless trance. Wheels approached, They bore me through the famished blades-- As dead the living come into necropolis-- Corded to a span of tumbrils, drugged. They lodged me in a hall of sorts A desecrated temple--and this proved sign Of much that came to pass. I schooled me In their ways, picked a wary course Through egg-shell structures. I looked above Their draughty towers, peered within Secret chambers, and marvelled at their councils. Peacock vain, mannikin cruel, sycophant. The world was measured to a dwarf Sufficiency; the sun by state decree Was lowered to fit the sextant of their mind And planets sighted lower to turn In calculable grooves, in orbits centred On the palace of the Sun of suns, Man-Mountain, King of Lilliput, Lord And Terror of a thimble universe! In such surrounds, in truth of fire Was it a wonder I would sagely err? How could a stranger tell an earthly sun Identify as meteors matchwood tongues Licking lawns, toy orchards, fairy groves? In plainsight I decried an earthly burn And squelched the puny flames in fountains Of urine. I sought nor favour nor reward, content In civic duty done, presence of mind Quick thinking. Alas! This act was rain Upon long stunted passions, Customs, taboos, parched sensibilities; The storm unleashed within the chamberpot Was long subsiding. Time passed. I kissed The Queen's fingers. The land bestowed A Royal Pardon. I pledged my strength anew To service of the state, enticed the court Statesmen, minions and nobility To grace my temple home. They trod a measure On the dais of my handkerchief The king excelled in skating on a mucus Rink-indeed we passed the rapid days In feasts of love, in mirth and mutual service. The seasons passed of peace, winds gathered To a storm within an egg-cup. Excavating scrolls in long forgotten archives They stretched the warps of mind to rigid poles Of opposition, blared the martial note: From Us the Lillywhite King Lillypuss To you obfuscating Blefuscoons From Us the Herrenyolk of Egg To you Albinos of the Albumen ... We Declare .. ! I could not choose but serve I took their measure in the depth Of sea-beds, galley-slave to claims Of bread and salt. I brought the enemy fleet To port, and pressed a reasoned course Of temperate victory. It did not suffice. I pledged reversion of my strength To arbitration; they pledged extinction of their kind. At this rebellion of the galley slave They looked much, said little. I waded Home in high-tide of their hate. Indictments flowed at secret sessions The palace deed re-echoed, concluding-- Imprimis: Unless by aid of Secret Powers No human bladder could eject such potent Piss to douse sidereal flames. Thus: Imprimis: A blasphemer who dared mistake Cosmic conflagration for mundane disaster, and-- For paradox: An arsonist for dwarfing Flames of Lilliput with stark reflection. From a capital doom, the saving thought Was waste disposal--how rid the state Of carrion weightier than the court and state. The Court Hygienists voiced a dread Of plagues, infections, cautioned--Hold! A cult of septic hydrants may derive From such a monumental corpse, springing To douse orthodoxies of state and power In rank corrosive draughts! A compromise Was sought and found, the sentence writ: The fault is not in ill-will but in seeing ill The drab-horse labours best with blinkers We pardon him to lose his sight to a cure Of heated needles, that proven cure for all Abnormalities of view--foresight, insight Second sight and all solecisms of seeing-- Called vision. --

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