at the LIRA

(for Rio Alma)

wordlessly the Adarna bird looks upon
the novitiates where they express their minds
bare their timeless passions and break their souls
laboring to tame their winged conceits

here in the Parnassus of lesser gods
they offer their craft with beauty and pride
only to be judged by their peers and foes

and those who will be forged anew with fire
will beg for the verdict of Apollo

one or two will assume their fitted place
in the fabled circle with their green bud
of imageries
rhetoric and forms

soon you will see them ritualized in print
mastering their madness and maladies

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