The Palace of Bones

Transfiguration of the Golden Bird

Transfiguration of the Golden Bird From that grave of sea in Thessaly A great fever looms. Sharp rocks rise Inexplicably into enormous walls Beyond the Monastery of Transfiguration. Could these walls be the work of Caenis? The virgin who walked these shores alone Before her body was stolen by Neptune, And left there naked and infertile. Was his gift expected to console her— A man’s body, a man’s voice, and thighs Immune to sword, to touch, to love? Had he believed that she would not Retain a woman’s blood and a woman’s heart? That she would not kill with twice the sense And twice the fury, then, with the weight Of mountains on her back, turn trees into golden wings, Rock into fire, fighting until she cracked the earth— Leaving nothing behind, nothing but a haze of raw light, And the sound of fire beating into heaven. Could he have imagined the second gift? Woman, bird, man, ghost, all at the temperament’s will? How else to explain these monstrous walls, 24 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. Scarred the color of human flesh, the gold nests, The gold caves, and the restless shadows that scorn the shore? The Golden Bird has not fallen. She is everywhere— Her wings of steel, of fire, her impenetrable voice. For years she waited, dancing on the blade Before the inferno with death in her mouth, Then she died again in heaven and left god alone. Between her legs the sea is a ghost that dies Only to wake again and burn within its flesh. And the men sail into her without knowing The nests and wings and fires Beneath her sapphire gown. Drifting like kings with her flesh in their mouths, Their bodies turn to water. The soil sweetens with the smell of their hair. Their instincts still tremble in the bone. And the virgins walk the shore alone, Shedding from their bodies against the will of the gods. 25 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...