JONAH

A CREAM of phosphorescent light

Floats on the wash that to and fro

Slides round his feet — enough to show

Many a pendulous stalactite

Of naked mucus, whorls and wreaths

And huge festoons of mottled tripes

And smaller palpitating pipes

Through which a yeasty liquor seethes.

Seated upon the convex mound

Of one vast kidney, Jonah prays

And sings his canticles and hymns,

Making the hollow vault resound

God’ s goodness and mysterious ways,

Till the great fish spouts music as he swims.