GJERTRUD SCHNACKENBERG

The first warning passing through Thebes--

As a small sound

As a housefly alighting from Persia

And stamping its foot on a mound

Where the palace once was;

As small as a moth chewing thread

In the tyrant’s robe;

As small as the cresting of red

In the rim of an injured eye; as small

As the sound of a human conceived--

The god in Delphi,

Mouthing the words ...