Poem From Alibi

HERODOTUS IN EGYPT REMEMBERS DELOS

The ground, verdigris. Fluffy with young mosquitoes. Waters
sacred as there, as fatted with reeds. Bronze palm planted
to Sun. Lizards, Nile alligaters, hindquarters
rolling on granite sphinx-chippings. Air salted with confident
brown larks. Travelling, you remember (mind
upturning these foreign priests, finding
the causes) that stamensummit: white long
unbloody altar, giddy blues under you, calyx of bronze
flat islands unfolding; blind.