I am Strong enough to
Break human history in two—²
I make a golden age at my Whim.³
I Command lightning to come down to me
From the heavens, and it comes at my call—
And serves me for a Plaything when it comes.⁴
Mountains Tremble at the shock of my passing—⁵
My Foot-Stool is earth—my Canopy the skies—⁶
I am King Giant Dragon Sun!⁷
I Split galaxies—
With a single Breath.⁸
I wield Calmly & Humbly an awful power—
Of which angels & saints stand in Reverence.⁹
My living flame Pierces clouds & Banishes night—
My Glow the hurricanes increase to
Match the gleams of heaven’s light!¹⁰
¹ Danez Smith, Litany with Blood All Over
² Friedrich Nietzsche tr. unknown, Letter to Strindberg, December 8, 1888
³ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, quoted by James Miller in Examined Lives
⁴ Edgar Allan Poe, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade
⁵ Primo Levi tr. Feldman & Swann, Autobiography
⁶ Alexander Pope, Epistle 1
⁷ Philip Whalen, I Am King Giant Dragon Sun
⁸ George Abraham, Memory Study with Elizabeth Specimen in Dark Universe
⁹ James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
¹⁰ Arthur Caswell Porter, Faith