the phoenician night
black as nothingness
i am a cruel man
i am a proud merchant
i am a powerful old bastard
i order my slaves to play music
i eat and drink splendidly
i clap my hands and women appear
i clap them again and they go away
in tyrus is a garden
where i go and smoke lebanese hash
and opium from persia
garden of earthly delights
i bathe in its pools
i lie in the shade of its cedars
i dream in the fleeting shadows of the afternoon
in tyrus i have meetings with people
murderers
courtesans
sailors
magicians
down in the walled harbour
down in the old part of town
with my silver
with my knife
with my man who watches out for me
with my explicit instructions
with my plaited hair and forked beard
wait in the darkness
listening to the sea
listening to the seabirds
listening to the wind
blowing through the phoenician night
and on
into africa