Your net is spun of sitar strings
To hold the griefs of gods: I wander long
In tear vaults of the sublime
Quen of night torments, you strain
Sutures of song to bear imposition of the rites
Of living and of death. You
Pluck strange dirges from the storm
Sift rare stones from ashes of the moon, and rise
Night errands to the throne of anguish
Oh there is too much crush of petals
For perfume, too heavy tread of air on mothwing
For a cup of rainbow dust
Too much pain, oh midwife at the cry
Of severance, fingers at the cosmic cord, too vast
The pains of easters for a hint of the eternal.
I wiould be free of your tyranny, free
From sudden plunges of the flesh in earthquake
Beyond all subsidence of sense
I would be free from headlong rides
In rock seams and volcanic veins, drawn by dark steeds
On grey melodic reins.
Written by Wole Soyinka
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