Kurt Philip Behm

Crown Of Thorns

Cloning the emperor,

assuming the throne

knighted impostor,

unregally grown

 

With hell for a kingdom,

his scepter ignites

flames burning memory,

a mirror’s delight

 

The queen held for ransom,

 a prince in his bed

jester on fire,

all subjects rebled

 

A rival approaches,

the bishop a swan

his guillotine royal

—beheaded in song

 

(Beaupre: November, 2021)

 

 

Where Pigs Fly

 

The magnitude of ignorance

staggers beyond

the scope of imagining,

a weakening throng

 

The danger of assumption,

its hard biting edge

empowers deception

shoved over the ledge

 

The vacuums of denial

we fight to defend

are lost in the moment

pushed out to the end

 

This emptiness we carry

and knowledge we fear

footnote our destruction

—as fools shed a tear

 

(Rosemont College: November, 2021)