Oscar Williams

From “Under the Sun”

I HAVE come out of my grave

For my revenge upon death,

Who bound me to a wind-swirled, gnarled crag,

And set the stars picking at my bones

Like a million tiny vultures;

Long, long before Prometheus,

I too had stolen a fire, greater than his!

But now I have come out of my grave

For my revenge upon death:

Out of the curves of petals,

The curves of my face;

Out of the caverns of the winds,

The little caverns of my lungs;

Out of the sunlight and moonlight,

The glimmer of my eyes;

Out of the rains and snows,

My heart’s cataract of plunging flames;

Out of the tip-toeing twilight,

The hush of my soul.

Oh, I have come out of my grave

For my revenge upon death—

For the little revenge men call life.