The travellers met the two-headed dog
trained to keep eyes on
near & middle distance
& in particular the fearful horizon.

One told the other he remembered
one of those signs from long ago
& he thought it had something to do
with a keyword in Christian lingo.

This must be the world turned
upside down on their maps
they’d certainly been warned
a world in imminent collapse.

O Pilgrim Pilgrim
there’s a dark wood in dreamland
& the tower to which Childe Roland
O Pilgrim Pilgrim

Beware the lunar eclipse
when spiral flowers bloom
& who knows whom
midnight thunder claps.

What it was to be
doubly welcome
what it was to be
unkindly undone.

There it stood
the Great E
the remnant letter
of Exist or Exits.

Let’s go home says one
Where’s home asks the other
If you know which way
you’re out on your own.