XXX – De Profundis Clamavi
From
the obscure hole where my heart has collapsed
Into
a mournful universe where I have been submerged
And
where swim the night of horror and blasphemy;
O
sun without heat hovering above for half the year,
And
for the other six months when night covers the earth;
It’s
a country more naked then the North Pole;
-Without
beasts, streams, greenery or woods!
The
glacial cruelty of this sun of ice,
And
this immense night which echoes the primeval chaos.
Ah!
Jealousy is the very vilest kind of animal,
Which
can send one careering into the most stupid funk,
There
where the scaffolds of time slowly part, and divide.
XXXI. The Vampire
You
who, like a fine stiletto,
Pierced
my plaintive heart;
Strong
like a horde of demons,
You
who, with wine and madness conjoined,
Made
your domain and bed
Of
my humiliated spirit –
Infamy,
to you I am now wedded
Like
a convict to a chain,
Like
the last hand of a poker player,
Like
the bottle to the drunk,
Or,
worms to a corpse,
-
A similar kind of Evil you, to me, are.
To
conquer my freedom,
And
I sought council in perfidious poisons
To
bolster my cowardice.
Held
me in disdain before saying to me:
“
Eejit! – You are not worthy
To
be taken by us from your atrocious slavery,
For
if our efforts were to deliver you
Your
kisses would only resuscitate
The
corpse of the vampire which consumes you.”
XXXII.
One
night as I found myself lying beside an atrocious Jewess,
Like lying beside the most exquisite cadaver,
And
I started to fantasise over her hired limbs,
Her
sad beauty, and which my desire held momentarily, hostage.
Her
vigorous look and her armed grace,
Beneath
her hair worn like a perfumed helmet,
And
which the memory of love revives.
From
the tips of her feet right up to the black tresses on her head,
I
imagined the rich treasure of her caresses.
You
could only, oh Queen of delicious cruelty,
Obscure
the splendour from your cold lips...
It
took twenty five years for Peter O’ Neill (1967) to see his work in print, five
of his poems first appearing in The
Galway Review in December, 2012. Since then, he has had over 100 poems
published. His debut collection Antiope appeared
in February 2013, and to critical acclaim. ‘Certainly a voice to be reckoned
with,’ wrote Dr. Brigitte Le JueZ (DCU). As well as having had some of his
translations published - including works
by Baudelaire, Agusto Dos Anjos and
Virgil; original poems written by him in Italian and French have also appeared.
He has been a regular contributor to A
New Ulster, Danse Macabre and The
Scum Gentry, and he is currently working on his seventh collection.
