Lacertilla's Lament

by

Diane Klammer

(Response to The Celebration of the Lizard)
(For Fausto and Jim)

Within the labyrinth of the mind
Inside Jungles of cold concrete wilderness
Hidden by darkness and warmed by light
A jewel in the crowd crouches

Lacertilla lives
Confused chameleon changes clown colors
Squamata passed on
Became part of the pavement
From thunder rubber tires
Lacertilla ran away and forgot

He longs to leave this cold hearted city
Passers by become ghostly images larger than life
Faceless, Nameless and Heartless define the beat of the city
Lacertilla listens while industry attacks
While he longs for wilderness not caged by power lines

Eventually Lacertilla escapes to green growing grass
His sleek low running form makes way
From rock to dust and can breathe free

Ceremony indeed. What are we worshipping?
Beasts of burden or trinity replaced by 666 or circus?
Dreams of snakes with two heads
Crawling on scales of time with a thousand lidless eyes
Circles with powerful twisted shapes
Drag reluctant souls to look in the mirror
Lights flicker and features fuse
Into ugly beasts of terror on the other side

Go away. We are protected here
The façade fades into the ordinary
The dreamer pulls the sheets over his head
Crouches down into the bed
Images form and faces are barely visible
A candle is relit and vision clears

Why dwell during this celebration of souls?
Lacertilla shed your skin
Let those defenses peel away
So others may see within
Through the unkindness and mock blindness
To a core of strength
May you weather the truth
Be restored into knowledge
Pierce the heart and drain it
Of its last drop of cold blood
Let it continue to beat unafraid
Of the sharpness of tomorrow
Discover those eyes can open
Filling again with warm energy

You speak of a game
Called "go insane"
Crawling through the brain
One does not go voluntarily
But implodes regardless of efforts contrary
Introduced into this terrarium
No game
This is not fun
It is the hardest work ever done
As you see mysterious faces through a foggy aquarium

Lacertilla loses his crown
Falls down
Struggling against the glass
Loses ground
Friends and foes are not around
One cannot hide within the mind
Faceless masses probe to find
The reptile hiding beneath the stone

For a time one’s mind is not his own
In time with help he sheds his skin
Piece by piece like a human being
The long way out is through healing within
Slowly improvement begins
An upward climb with love and friends
With no indication where it will end

His eyes are closed during ascent
Relying on past memories of the same event
As he tries to get out where he used to be
The glass shattered to let him in
But now he must climb over the top
Not slipping back in or trying to stop
Or retreating to safety under a rock
Once he is out he will breathe real air
Clean or polluted but the price of survival there

A slaughter you say
You had to turn your arrogant eyes away and run
It was your destruction early begun
You left with your ring of fire
No mansion could save you
No comfort was there
Legend or lizard, we can’t get you back

Wake up
You call the children of night chariots
In their purple legions
Turning to pink dawns
You will be there when morning comes

Get real, Jim
Give up your lizard pride
Drunken escape
Crawl through the tunnel
Shed imperfection all in one unveiling
Plunge forward pulled by a familiar force
With your old soul
Leave your snakes behind
Embrace the truth and the beauty
Move into that reality light fusion

NEXT?
Why don't you look at The Twelfth Secret of Cabra West
by: Hay Machine
from: Dublin, Ireland

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