I’ll Break in the Doors of
Hell – and Smash the Bolts²
Each Lost Soul is a Hell unto itself³
Hell: the Shadow from a Soul on Fire⁴
Bound on a Voyage Úncouth & Obscure,
Far on Excursion toward the gates of Hell⁵
A thick strip of Flesh pulls away – to reveal
An Unexpected Passage to Hell in her Heart⁶
We Stir up Hell to heave its Lowest Dreg-
Fiends uppermost in Fiery Swirls of slime⁷
The Curse of Hell frae me sall ye Bear⁸
Hell is made of Fallen Suns: each day
Another Sun goes Under the Earth⁹
Go to Hell, but keep Moving once
There – come out the Other Side¹⁰
¹ Emily Dickinson, Remorse is Memory Awake
² The Epic of Gilgamesh tr. N.K. Sandars
³ James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
⁴ Omar Khayyám tr. Edward Fitzgerald, Rubáiyát
⁵ John Milton, Paradise Lost
⁶ Mary Gaitskill, Folk Song
⁷ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh
⁸ Anonymous, Clerk Saunders
⁹ Philip Whalen, What Finally Happened to the King
¹⁰ Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost