Freedom #1 and #2

#1:

In the darkness he stands, his head thrown back

his cloven feet firmly apart, his nostrils lifted up

to catch the memory of the breeze.

His eyes closed, his fur on end,

his fists clenched, his thighs aquiver,

and in the centre of who he is

is awareness the cycle is passing and soon

the boats will arrive at the port

with the new seasons cargo of children

forced to try their luck

and pass through the maze not knowing

at its blackest heart is he

and though he wishes it were not so,

that he could find the strength to resist,

the truth is he craves the light so

that he will perform the act,

give them the blood,

honour the god and hope

one day he will gain release.

The beast then. the abandoned child,

the son, the lover who seeks an innocent’s blood;

he is them all, the bequeathed, the vanquished

the hero, the monstrous savage,

standing in the centre of the labyrinth

in the night that never departs,

with memories for companions,

death in all his deeds, he is what we fear

and he is wretchedly us.

#2:

He waits for the ray of sunshine

to wind its way down the shaft

carved in the solid rock, Daedalus

understood the plight of light,

though not that

it is both wave and particle,

down into the heart of the mountain,

to the cavern hollowed up

destined in carver’s mind

to be the minotaur’s prison.

The minotaur stands in the cavern’s centre,

has the sense to know the timing

of that sunlight’s descent,

waits with his eyes closed,

his head held straight –

when the time is right

the light hits the two horns,

twin crescent moons shine in the darkness.