[Rick Mullin]

The Rictus Wheel

After Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Triumph of Death

Your scepter and your armor and your gold
collide and clatter with the grinning bone
whose hourglass and sword will bleed you cold.

The rictus wheel sets high above the wold
where raptors of the burning lake are shown
your scepter and your armor and your gold.

The young will pile up sideways with the old
in sudden deference to the chaperone
whose pendulum and sword will bleed you cold.

A pit where your constituents are poled
guffaws beside the ruins of your throne.
Your scepter and your armor and your gold

add color to the weary soul you sold.
It hangs in the Museo del Jamón
where standing time and sword will bleed you cold.

The thin men of Adipocere and Mold
roll everywhere. Cry foul? You’ll cry alone.
Your scepter and your armor and your gold,
your sundial and your sword, will bleed you cold.

____
S1L2–various descriptions of death, most recently “Jack of Bone” is now: grinning bone.
I will leave it alone.

S5L2 was: roll everywhere. Cry foul, but you were told.
Previous change was to: You’ve lost your muscle tone.


S3L2 was: into the earth. You’ll kneel before the crone
S3L3 “sands of time” is now “pendulum”