Prison Song

A poem by Alan Dugan

The skin ripples over my body like moon-wooed water,

rearing to escape me. Where could it find another

animal as naked as the one it hates to cover?

Once it told me what was happening outside,

who was attacking, who caressing, and what the air

was doing to feed or freeze me. Now I wake up

dark at night, in a textureless ocean of ignorance,

or fruit bites back and water bruises like a stone.

It’s jealousy, because I look for other tools to know

with, and other armor, better girded to my wish.

So let it lie, turn off the clues or try to leave:

sewn on me seamless like those painful shirts

the body-hating saints wore, the sheath of hell

is pierced to my darkness nonetheless: what traitors

labor in my face, what hints they smuggle through

its arching guard! But even in the night it jails,

with nothing but its lies and silences to feed upon,

the jail itself can make a scenery, sing prison songs,

and set off fireworks to praise a homemade day.

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Poems in English 

• The Jungle Flower by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Hut by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Hospital On The Shore by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Garden Of Kama Kama The Indian Eros by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Garden By The Bridge by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The First Wife by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The First Lover by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Dying Prince by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Convert by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Cactus by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Cactus Thicket by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Bride by Adela Florence Nicolson
• The Aloe by Adela Florence Nicolson
• Syed Amir by Adela Florence Nicolson
• Surface Rights by Adela Florence Nicolson
• Surf Song by Adela Florence Nicolson
• Sunstroke by Adela Florence Nicolson
• Story Of Udaipore Told By Lalla Ji The Priest by Adela Florence Nicolson
• Story Of Lilavanti by Adela Florence Nicolson
• Story By Lalla Ji The Priest by Adela Florence Nicolson

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