the prophet
came to me
with a poor man’s tale
of his one ewe lamb
sworn to him by seven
pieces of gold
and a tale of the greed
of a rich man
hungry for not his own
supper
who stole that lamb
and i in my arrogance
did swear by the fate
of my house and kingdom
vengeance
oh the crack in my heart
when the prophet tolled
david
thou art the man
Lucille Clifton, from The Terrible Stories, Slow Dancer Press, 1998.
With thanks to John Harvey.
Published by Anthony Wilson
I am a lecturer, poet and writing tutor. I work in teacher and medical education at the University of Exeter. My anthology Lifesaving Poems was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015. In 2012 I published Riddance (Worple Press), a collection of poems, and Love for Now (Impress Books), a memoir, about my experience of cancer. The Wind and the Rain, my sixth collection of poems, is available now from Blue Diode Publishing. My current research project, funded by the Foyle Foundation, is Young Poets' Stories: https://youngpoetsstories.com/. This blog is archived by the British Library.
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