rounding the temple,
walking its plinth,
reading each carving
like solving a labyrinth
battles and bulls
and decrepit hulls
of ships washed ashore
demons and ogres
who’d fought foreign wars
the Tartarus deep
and gods upon high
and mythical beasts
in water and sky
there’s no way this world
could be real or true
a vacuum of cruelty
a fanciful zoo
real enough to be carved in stone
constructs of mind, known but unknown
