Collected Poems of Richard Griffin
What a strange place, so calm so still, so wonderfully weird. The bottom of the Indian ocean. Ah there, that majestic form. It approaches. Is it alive? Yes it is alive, all gold all glitter, and walking on the bottom of the sea. It is the Patriarch of Constantinople. He is clinging to one leg of an octopus. The great fish struggles to get free, but it cannot get free. The august potentate clings fast to the mighty sea monster. Ah, Ah! Darkness sets in all black. Horrible yells. Now there is deep silence. The scene changes, lights up. What a transformation. The Mosque of Saint Sophia. Beautiful, sublime. What is that object? Is it an altar? No it is a kitchen table. See the bucket on the table. The bucket is full of hashed liver mixed with feathers. Liver and feathers. Just think of it. Liver and feathers, half and half. What a mess. See that dark form. It moves, it approaches. What is it? Is it a kangaroo? No it is a man. See the lighted torch in his hand. He pauses near the table. He looks at the bucket. He sees that the bucket is chuck full of liver and feathers. He extends one hand. Now the lighted torch is close to the bucket. The liver and feathers ignite, they burn. Oh what a smell. Horrible! How dreadful. What does it all mean? What an awful mystery. The man with the torch, who is it! Who? Can it be the "Itching Frog of Antioch?" No. Ah, Ah, we now see plainly. The gloom clears. This potentate all gold all glitter—Eureka! We recognize the man with the torch. It is our old friend. It is the Patriarch of Constantinople. The lop-sided he lop-sided funnel like end of the tunnel and therefore—G. B. B.
Note—I was known as Guy Barnabas Bone the summer I boarded on the Inchcape Rock off the coast of Scotland. The Inchcape is a small island covered from base to summit with a rich growth of rhododendrons of such brilliancy that the fishermen call it the Red Island. It is inhabited by a race of black goats with yellow eyes.—RICHARD GRIFFIN.
THE END
NOTICE
Please don't think this is the end of the book.
See next page.