Within My Breast I Carry Ancient Death
Within my breast I carry ancient death
with faces pale and white as marbled clay.
So purged by guilt I struggle with my breath
which carries napalm scent of yesterday.
The broken colors born behind my lids,
are monumental rainbows round a pit
where hues of crimson-reds crisscross the grids -
more bloody lines and squares that always fit,
profanely perfect plastic memories,
of riddled bodies huddled, on the ground,
where rotted skin slips off fatalities
as ragged maggots slither-squirm around.
The jungle flora breathes forth mystic sighs
as soldiers wander through symbology.
They see familiar phantom's floating eyes
that catapult to horrid memory.
No temple of communion colonnades.
No transubstantiation in the heat.
No priestly servants hidden in the glades.
No promises of paradise wrapped neat.
Font size:
Submitted on November 20, 2009
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 6 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GXGX CHXH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 786 |
Words | 127 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Within My Breast I Carry Ancient Death" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/91503/within-my-breast-i-carry-ancient-death>.
Discuss the poem Within My Breast I Carry Ancient Death with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In