Rainbow Signs

Pale horse songs of a slow decline
Sideshow words if the songs don’t mind
God gave Noah the rainbow sign
No more water, is the H-Bomb next time?
Pale horse vows in a grave reply
Smile for the camera at a church’ nearby
Threw a mute curse at the Boise sky
For my fucked up Napolean of St. Helena hairline
Black horse leaping when the frogs withdrew
The parable of the plums where the olives grew
Clouded rearrangement of sounds we knew:
An Idaho sunset for my own private Waterloo
Pale horse songs of a slow decline
Side show words if our moms don’t mind:
Cloud gave no one a rainbow sign
Six-point starred ink flag next time?

قل هو الله احد الله الصمد
(Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad)
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ ה’ אֶחָד
(Qul Huwa-llahu Ahad Allah hus-Samad)

With imperial crowns we were sent,
Riding out conquest-bent
Daylight is breaking
Wielding the sanctified sword
For the army of the Scarecrow Lord
Daylight is breaking
Balancing scales at our feet
Measuring out two pounds of barley, six pounds of buckwheat
Beasts of the Battersea Shield
At the opening of the fourth seal

The sky, I’d been told
Would roll up like a scroll
As the mountains and islands moved from their place
And the sun would turn black
As a dead raven’s back
But there’d be nowhere to hide
From the Judge’s face
After which message-less birds take flight without cause
To the silence they’ve heard in the absence of laws
Or imperial crowns: Unsent, unsigned

The other night I dreamt I was finally out of college
In my own pair of sandals, I had turned into my father
Whistling my tune about the Rio Grande
Like an anchorite in June I took hold of my own hand
And started on the Abrahamic joke we knew
About apostrophes and pronouns and you remember who
But let’s keep that silly punchline between me and you
Little Haroon and the man in the moon.