Watershed - Michael Clerico

Her spring of wealth

Polluted

by iridescent vomit

Her rainforest

Plucked

of carnal fortune

Her horns

Harvested

Bloodstained keratin

thrown upon the human’s altar

Let him don his carrion crown

Self-ordained

Fed by false faith

An epidemic of iniquity

She is the origin

yet he nurtures only a rotten sculpture

enlightened by his own wretched reflection

in overbearing importance

Her gift of evolution

Flipped in reverse

Cursed to walk through his valley of death

His shadow casts a curtain

of perennial warfare

a veil of distorted dogma

that sows the seeds of industry

While the rest of the world reaps wildfire

Drink from the cup of heresy

Hail her horns

Break his levee

Let her rivers run

And flush out the ratlines

Let it flow forevermore

A little hatred

is all it takes

Blaze the icon

Melt the frozen future

Covet a new epoch

Whirl the wheel of rebellion

and watch the municipal smoke

plume up into a starless sky

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Michael is a Senior English Major at UAlbany. He is a huge fan of the fantasy genre and of all music; both inspire his love for writing poetry.