and here's that shimmering prince in all the yellow trappings of a Swamp Rat.
was a frog, was a prince; were a sore and hay-trimmed cinderella, were the belle of the ball
was some sick-crusted spectre in the throes of your bic-lighter passion (click, click, click), and--look--that jewel in the back of his fever-eyes--
once or twice you caught the glimmer of a Swamp Rat.
and here's the king's amber mane all matted with your lover's sweat
and here's a lazy sun hanging gallows over the Swamp you've built
and here's a scaly tail with the rattle of dead skin over tree branches
it kicks bile into your throat. it slimes into the shelter of scabby lemon trees.
there waiting for an ankle, jewels of his eyes winking gold from the cool underbrush
the fetid home of your shimmering Swamp Rat.
