For A Fallen Idol

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Nemrut Dağı -- now a national park, famous for the antique statuary on the summit, dating back to the Commagene Kingdom [c. 163 BC-72 AD]: photo by Tony f, 17 July 2010

The repeating dream of the thin old man
wrinkled and withered beyond his years,
gaunt, haunted and broken -- as in the cruel photo --
made a few minutes before the coming

of the end -- arriving in the underworld
alone, unattended -- an image bespeaking
a sadness inherent in things -- a fallen
idol some, without apparent thought, once

would have emulated, envied -- attention
shyly deflected again as in life
in the dream mumbling half-embarrassed farewells
quietly, we look quickly away -- this part

of the scene acute, bitter
sweet as the sharpest of awakened
memories -- again as in life -- while in the dream he is swept
in hard mid-day light, glancing,

across the desert arroyo, now
awash in crocodile tears,
into the waiting black vehicle,
by the faceless army of keepers.

View to the tomb-sanctuary of Mount Nemrut with heads of huge statues in front: photo by Florian Koch, 2003