Brought to Earth

from Daniel 4

- 1 -
At night, while he dreams
between silken sheets
an unearthly voice
calls him a mighty tree
scratching the floor of heaven itself,
demanding to enter within.

How good to survey himself,
the splendid king,
chest puffed, eyes cast down
to catalogue his wide kingdom.
Precious metal limns his temples.
Inside, the banquet table strains
to bear the weight of a feast,
and all his human odors are masked
by the sumptuous scent
of costly fragrance.
How can he not be struck
by his own glory?

That searing voice
makes its devastating decree,
"Cut down the tree. Strip off its leaves.
"Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven."

- 2 -
The king must be put to pasture.
His loyal advisers
set him to graze
discreetly on the palace lawns.
Seven years the man is whittled down
to a brute animal base,
his body wet every morning
with new heavenly moistures.
He feasts on grass,
nurtures his body with green,
runs on all fours,
scrapes the earth
with gnarled claws,
digs down deep
into the rich black stuff

until he finds it in himself
to spit the bitter confession
that he is merely a man,
that his glory
was never his own.

- 3 -
As though an eye had blinked
away those wild years,
he finds himself enthroned again,
restored to his former regal
trappings,
yet seated on his golden throne
somehow the dew of morning
now seemed a worthier crown,
the simple grass a banquet
more well-appointed,
the fragrant soil
a more flattering perfume
than any he could find
within the palace walls.