The Ancient Shepherd
From out where Eos flings her golden robe
At the black knight with his silver eyes,
Where Nannar’s shrine and Nin-Gal’s temple
Bathed their shadows in the ancient sea and
Shores of the giver of life in the land of Chaldees,
There wended forth a man with his kith and kin
Where fronds of palms are shading earthly gifts.
There sprung from him a man of virtue
A scion and a framer of a favored People.
Genitor and shepherd of his cast and flock,
He journeyed to the palms of sweets in Tadmor
Then on to the burg of fragrant gardens in Bashan
And by the shadow of Hermon’s mighty finger,
To the sacred house of El, in the realm of purple,
Where the dye of Murex coloured robes of nobles.
And he swore by the Lord God Most High,
The one who augured that his people would endure,
And ancient epics utters of a sanctum built.
Hence onward ranged this man, the friend of God
With his bevy and his staff and a petiole in hand
And by the Oaks of Mamre he bartered for a cavern
Known by some as Machpelah, a place to rest when
Thoughts of earthly pleasures disowns its dwelling.
When the verdure in this, his chosen new Arena
Were conquered by a dearth and barren bleakness,
He took his flock into the realm of reeds and plenty,
Where Nubian virgins dance naked for their pleasure
And the giver of the feast brings forth
The yearly bounty onto the fields of kings,
Whose cradle lies beyond millenniums
And the ancients rest embalmed in golden splendor.
Thrust at last into the silent, velvet darkness
By the essence and the sum of all his breath,
He sent his spirit on its longest journey,
Into the dimness of his father’s house,
Where murmurs of a dawn fly on silent wings
On an endless voyage through the chambers
Of the boundless cauldron;
A final quest in search of his creators maker.
KENNY
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