Here is a poem (for the students at the UNCP) I did especially for you, with a beginning and end, I call it "Wounded by Death" (we must remember, a poem is a short condensed story): Wounded by Death Death comes sometimes right in front of you, Sits down right beside you! You hoot and holler at Death! Your throat clicks, tightens, It begs for breath...
Only to find out, what death says Is correct: "I'm not here for you, -be silent! I have come for her...
" Thus, that tight throat That was begging for breath, That was twitching, Now is at rest.
Death proceeds around you Yet, you know it will be soon: The years of your age, Your heart, perhaps cancer- Death knows, that you know He will not abandon you! #3341 (5-5-2012) The Lost Legend of Coto Coto (A poetic drama/narration) Acompany of Spanish soldiers Riding below a gibbous moon (one evening over a hundred and fifty years ago or so) Through the old Wanka ruins in Chilca, Near Huancayo, in the Andes of Peru- Heard a babe, bellowing, crying in the Eucalyptus Woods, nearby on the ridge of the Mantaro Rio; There they beat the bush, through the thick foliage And found, a naked babe, alone, abandoned On the damp infested ground: Crying, screaming, like a gibbous hound: Looking up towards the moon! "How could anyone leave a babe in such a way?" Questioned the Command Sergeant Major? The Captain huddled the babe under his coat- (to keep it warm from the impending cold rains) Rode but a little ways, when fire spouted from the Infants mouth-with rage! The Captain shrieked, flung the child from His breast, into the nearby bushes- And faster than the Hounds of Hell, Holding his breath, He galloped senseless, out of the woods, threw The old Wanka ruins of Coto Coto His company behind him -that is it! #3346 (Poetic drama); story: 916 Dedicated to the Mayor of Chilca: Abraham Carrasco Impenetrable Spirits Of Kuelap and Karajia Around my-soft, warm naked face...
Impenetrable spirits sleep and pace Some wondering silently through unlit space Disembodied, nearly blind- Once awaken they roar from the dead Inside Kuelap's fortress stone tombs, Inside Karajia's niche sarcophagus!...
They want to be left alone- Host and lost souls wailing for peace Penetrating minds, with sweeping madness for unwanted guests: they remembered my friend, they Told me so, the Archeologist-: giving him Nightmares, pounding on the door Of his heart, for disarray on their sacred ground! From Horizon's Dawn I assured them from whence we came we'd not disturb them ever again...
; thus, said, the abrupt spirit In Kuelap's stone darkness: "Enough alleged, we'll leave him in peace, If indeed he collaborates...
!" #1300 7/28/2006; written at El Parquetito, Miraflores, Lima, Peru; reedited 4-2012 Note: When I was in Chachapoyas (Northern Peru), in April of 2006, I visited the grand fortress of Kuelap and a little farther away was the site of Karajia, with its niche tombs high up on the side of a mountain.
These two sites in Peru are among some of the finest; unfortunately, most people only recognize Machu Picchu.
While with an archeologist friend, and a few others, my wife Rosa included, we visited these two sites.
Thus, the spirits are alive here, and as I put my hands onto some of the stones in Kuelap, a mad spirit told me he was angry at the Archeologist for his and his friends disturbing them; who was working at the site during this time.
I talked to my friend and he was getting bad headaches during this period, and the spirit inferred, he'd stop haunting him should he respect their privacy, and thus, the headaches went away.