by Karina Tynan
DEDICATED TO GRETA THUNBURG
Note: The Fisher King from Arthurian mythology is a wounded king, and keeper of the holy grail who is waiting for the perfect knight to ask ‘the grail question’ e.g. Whom does the grail serve?
‘Only night is easy for me,’ said the Fisher King.
‘Daylight would sear into my open wound, mock my decrepitude.
Once, like her I faced the sun’s glorious opening in the morning.
bearing dreams over the sea. She, flying a polyester cloak,
black, white, green, red for blood, and it mantling the wind,
recklessly trusting wind, and goodness.
I wasn’t waiting for a girl and now I pay the price, stuck in cobwebs,
too long in the company of shadow, waiting for the one
to un-prise my broken hands, finger by finger,
steal the wound from my pathetic grip, suffocate the waiting.’