JOHN THE BAPTIST FACES TEMPTATION

I eat roots, whatever berries
Birds reject. This desert
Demands abstinence.
I am no longer filled with fast.
My stomach growls, I pace.
What can I stalk?
Where is the flesh I crave?

I howl in darkness.
My prey responds in kind.

HEROD "FACES TEMPTATION"

This man still amuses me.
So vigorous a roar -
His shakes, shivers or
Quivers, I'm not sure -
Wild hairs like wires
Give off sparks.
His words click
Like a hundred broken sticks.
His breath streaks thumps
Like a hundred arrows flung.

Keep him tethered,
I tell myself. A circus of one.
Keep him far from the palace.
He, not Salome, my private dancer.