in the night a monster    a man

spiked with metal rods

walking    trancing his way

across the coals

that monstrous heat

but pain deterred    where the sacred

and the jostling crowds meet

the whole world begins to rock

like a school of fish    everyone

moves at the same strange pace

our faces scorched by heat

eyes ablaze in wonder at this feat

that should bring tormented cries

as if a mountain were bleeding lava

blousy flowers of trees shrivelling

rain deferred    while clouds gather

at horizon’s edge

tomorrow will be wet