saint alexander
waiting for
the storm
protected by tin saints
watching the girls in town
spent hours
soaking in the damp of those houses
years soaking in the mildew and black spores
which grow in the corners of those rooms
so now my skin just smells like old muslin
hung across windows
catching the light and the weather
no perfume can disguise it
it may as well be my colour
pallid and wax and pale
the colour of cold sweat and dead skin
the colour of the news paper they use to wrap new borns
before they leave them on the corner by the trash.
i can't stand this madness
the sky never breaks, and watching these girls depresses me
alexander was sainted when he was eaten by the lions
alexander was sainted when he conquered persia
alexander was sainted when he put his dick in all those virgins sent to his campaign beds
alexander was sainted when he fucked the queen of sheba
but still,
he died in babylon
i don't want to be in babylon
i don't want to be with the wicked ones
scared and ashamed to be found here
in this place
with the wicked
and the weak heart
and the pagans
protected by tin saints
watching the girls in town
spent hours
soaking in the damp of those houses
years soaking in the mildew and black spores
which grow in the corners of those rooms
so now my skin just smells like old muslin
hung across windows
catching the light and the weather
no perfume can disguise it
it may as well be my colour
pallid and wax and pale
the colour of cold sweat and dead skin
the colour of the news paper they use to wrap new borns
before they leave them on the corner by the trash.
i can't stand this madness
the sky never breaks, and watching these girls depresses me
alexander was sainted when he was eaten by the lions
alexander was sainted when he conquered persia
alexander was sainted when he put his dick in all those virgins sent to his campaign beds
alexander was sainted when he fucked the queen of sheba
but still,
he died in babylon
i don't want to be in babylon
i don't want to be with the wicked ones
scared and ashamed to be found here
in this place
with the wicked
and the weak heart
and the pagans
St Alexander was a Roman soldier who converted to Christianity and then converted others, he was captured by the Romans and fed to the lions in the arena. He is the catholic patron saint of soldiers. On saint medals his likeness bares resemblance to that of Alexander The Great. The poem is about both of them.
The Martyrdom of Saint Alexander of Bergamo -- Ponziano Loverni
St. Alexander of Bergomum was a centurion in the Theban Legion commanded by Sts. Mauritius, Candidus, Innocentius, and Exuperius. They were ordered to march from Thebais in Egypt to Gallia to reinforce emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius Augustus against the
ReplyDeleteBurgundiones, but since they were all CVhristians they refused to sacrifice to the emperor and were executed at Aguaunum (modern Saint-Maurice, Switzerland) in 286. Alexander survived the massacre and escaped to Mediolanum (Milano) but was recognized and imprisoned. St. Fidelis, the officer in charge of the Christian prisoners there, arranged for the escape of 5 of them, including Alexander, who fled to Como and was recaptured and taken back to Mediolanum. However, the executioner's arms went stiff as he was about to behead him, and Alexander escaped again. In Bergomum he began preaching his faith and converted many, including Sts Firmus and Rusticus (who were later tortured, beaten with clubs, and beheaded in Verona). He was again captured and beheaded in 303.
Alexandros III of Macedon ( Alexandros ho Mégas, "the Great") succeeded to the throne at 20. Two years later he led the Greek army in the conquest of Persia (including Egypt) and at 30 invaded India, defeating the Paurava king Porus at the Jhelum river, leading to his annexation of the Punjab. (During his conquest of Egypt some ahistoric accounts claim that he advanced south into Kush, which was sometimes identified as the Sheba of the Old Testament, but suffered his only military defeat at the hands of queen Candace of Meroë; in some versions they had a romatic encounter.) Returning to Babylon he planned to invade Arabia but died in 323 BCE at 33. At his death his realm covered some 5.2 million sq km (2 million sq mi). Centuries later the Roman historian Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus quoted him as saying, "If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things Hellenic, to traverse and civilize every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to disseminate and shower the blessings of the Hellenic justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorious Hellenes should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos."