red

he dug the colour red

dug red the way micks celebrate green

and whoever went whichever way

red spoke to him

             like the mountains did  like being immersed in cold clear water

shared with brown  cutthroat trout  and watercress

it lashed him

             like Ulysses to the mast of his unknown ship

as the Sirens song reached his ears  seducing him 

although he was unable to thrash free

then exhausted  his legs collapsed  and he remained strung upright on the knots and binds his crew devised

it abraded him

             like the coal ash and gravel in his Chicago alleyway

fallen  as he ran away from the bigger boys when it was smart to run

  

they never came at him one at a time

 

the dolts  with sudden intellect

remembered their bruises and black eyes by his unfettered fury

                                                                                                               he dug red

as an Aries would

blindly 

 

              lustily

1738,  Saturday,  8  8. 15