Marcus Closen’s poem Yellowed Jar appeared here January 2012.
The Kingdom in Waiting
By Marcus Closen
A woman at the market in Left Ventricle said
“the new conqueror is upon us!”
and the word spread quickly that a new conqueror had come
perhaps to reunify the Left and Right lands of Ventricle.
“the new conqueror is upon us!”
and the word spread quickly that a new conqueror had come
perhaps to reunify the Left and Right lands of Ventricle.
A boy in the streets of Atria heard.
He cried out, “a King! A King to rule this heart!”
His mother hushed him quickly, the fates not to be tempted.
But she hoped the King had come at last, also.
Parliament sat in the Aorta
the Speaker decreed, “we shall wait; we will wait to ask him to Rule.”
A word would be spoken in time.
For now: silence.
The heart waited.
The body waited.
Silence.
