The Snake Charmer and the Hamadryad

For J. C. Alldridge Piccolo and been-throated pibroch Dilating dimpled hood Spreading photometric darkroom eyes Waxing waxing matching Venomous lip to music's piping lip O Queen of stung dragon-mouthed Po Dancing girl of nuanceless ancient reliefs The apotheosis Brahman curling on the neck Must you now sink sink Dread watched Spineless Into the winding womb wickerwork Watching watching pipe-eyed watching Until you slip Over the sill of the pipe and the lip Anathema! Amorphous piteous anathema! Amulet of Siva! Licking the boneless air companionless Then slithering to lie on the trodden path Must you have this one last lick A lick that Stills the Unheeding Child astray Or ripple tailless In the reedy gust To the squat charmer's Hypnotical pibroch ©: T. Wignesan - Paris, 1957 (from Tracks of a Tramp. Kuala Lumpur-Singapore: 1961; first pub. in "Forum Academicum", University of Heidelberg, 1957)