Paul Lake: Two Poems

Martyr of Modernity

Christ had his cross. Antoine Lavoisier,

Discoverer of matter’s conservation,

When sentenced by the frenzied Paris mob

For crimes against the state, used the occasion

To make a last experiment. To see

How long a brain could live deprived of blood,

He asked a friend to mount the guillotine

And lift his severed head and count his blinks

Before all thought devolved to chemistry,

Then bravely gazed until the last: thirteen.

Epilogue to “The Emperor’s New Clothes”

Returning from his proud procession,

The king was pleased by the parade:

His ministers left the impression

That emperors must be obeyed.

Despite some murmurings, the crowd

Ignored the witness of their senses.

Whatever small boys cry aloud,

The truth is woven from consensus.

Those weavers were a subtle pair

Who put folk in a double-bind

By claiming if their looms looked bare,

The viewer had a simple mind

Or was unfit for public trust,

And pantomimed cloth into being

So well their dupes learned to…