THE CRYSTAL SKULL
(An occasional poem)

by KATHLEEN RAINE

AT the focus of thought there is no face

. The focus of the sun is crystal with no shadow.

Death of the victim is the power of the god.

Out of the eyes is the focus of love.

The face of love is the sun, that all see.

The skull of the victim is the temple of sight.

The eyes of the victim are the crystal of divination.

Sun clears the colours of life.

The crystal of the skull is the work of the god.

The stone of my destruction casts no shadow.

The sun kills perfectly with the stroke of noon.

The clarity of the crystal is the atonement of the god.

The perfection of man is the pride of death.

The crystal skull is the perpetuity of pride.

The power of the god is the taking of love.

The perfection of light is the destruction of the world.

Death and love turn the faces of day and night.

The illumination of the skull is the delight of the god.