And words of Romans creep in Not written but vengeful The dead are in the tortoise The dead are in their legions And the Trojan ponies trot by Graze My Little Pony Is there Torture in the Toybox? Or is this eternal Rome? Or is this infernal Rome? Before Black Ships were built In their harbours For gathering vau vau vau Electronic sixsixsix Black Ship Ship Ship Black Ship Ship Ship Volvaic and marine Slaughterer disguised as honey Babel Babylon is burbling with blowfly speech Stuttering channeled messages of birdsight in the Empire And where is that Empire now? Imperium! Christendom! Shepherd and Hermes! Masked with salt and stars Heavybreasted false Messiah Peachfaced murderer Dragging beasts and breasts Skipping to Armageddon In time for tea And for the weather forecast Falling time smiles fading As Black Ships sneak by Raiding lying stars Barbecuing living streams Of all the smiles that come shafting Saturn or moon or sun Is that my lunch you're eating on the back of Dracon? Is that my cup clipped to the bird's gaudy wing? Black Ships are camouflaged as postmen or bureaucrats They have delivered a loathing rapture prospect Keys to Heaven Gates are dark On side of sons and daughters But they have lied about Pi That number does not repeat to the infinite sky But is carousel inhabited by all the revenants Returning to fulfilled wires And use the roots that fall From the sectarian Empire The nude face striped back The naked grey mouse Was not in bleached equations Christ! Christ! Christ! Where is the tide? The long low roar of the Thames? The shell-shocked Seals Killer! Flower! Coil! There's crisis in the harbours The desert is too close Though we have seen it in our hearts At Black Ship time So let's lock the doors