DO NOT GO MENTAL (after Dylan Thomas's 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night')
Do not go mental into that mad night
Nor rage where thought denudes the words
Of men who cry for midwinter birds
Do not dictate a state of sallowed rape
Nor shallow the cheeks of the child at womb
Neither let the sun nor the summer boom
Do not go mental into that mad night
Nor rage where thought denudes the words
Of men who cry for
midwinter’s birds.
This earth is changing; see this sadness
Warp the coasts of the dead and heart
And break the stars in their deadly art.
Do not dictate a state of scarlet rape
Nor shallow
the cheeks of the child at noon
Do not go mental into that fast moon.
Do not go mental into that mad night
Nor shade a way for woman’s love
Nor rend the dream inside the Light:
Do not go mental to the stars above?
*
Copyright JDB 1997