(A chatechism of the new forefathers of America)
The winter men play the quiet game
In shadow-face and obscure name.
In shuttered rooms they dine unseen.
And gnaw and claw the table clean.
How will you know the winter man?
By his stitches and his seams,
By the scratching of his heartbeat
By the color of his dreams.
For winter men have gray dreams,
Gray hopes, grayed schemes,
Gray children and grayer wives
To match their desaturated lives
Where will you find the winter man?
At the heart of usury
In the teeth of calumny
In all, where he should not be
The winter men are sleeved and tie-d,
Clad in smiles that do not hide
The raptor rapture that roars within
The honeyed husks that house their sin
How will you love the winter man?
As you would the doubled fist
As you would the serpent's hiss
As you would the spider's kiss
The winter men have shriveled souls
That bleat like sheep beyond the fold
That writhe and tithe the noxious hour
And scream like pigs in an abattoir
(A chatechism of the new forefathers of America)
The winter men play the quiet game
In shadow-face and obscure name.
In shuttered rooms they dine unseen.
And gnaw and claw the table clean.
How will you know the winter man?
By his stitches and his seams,
By the scratching of his heartbeat
By the color of his dreams.
For winter men have gray dreams,
Gray hopes, grayed schemes,
Gray children and grayer wives
To match their desaturated lives
Where will you find the winter man?
At the heart of usury
In the teeth of calumny
In all, where he should not be
The winter men are sleeved and tie-d,
Clad in smiles that do not hide
The raptor rapture that roars within
The honeyed husks that house their sin
How will you love the winter man?
As you would the doubled fist
As you would the serpent's hiss
As you would the spider's kiss
The winter men have shriveled souls
That bleat like sheep beyond the fold
That writhe and tithe the noxious hour
And scream like pigs in an abattoir
