Clarence Caddell: ‘The Golem’

The Golem

My fear was inchoate: a blob of clay;
So to assuage its yearning need for eyes
And mouth, I made them. Arms and legs likewise
I roughly crafted in growing dismay
At the ungodly thing that seemed to stray,
Stationary, yet in a stumbling trice
From mineral to man, and back, life-size
And growing. But I was unskilled to allay
What my hands sculpted; so, drawing but half
The right conclusion, I took up a pen
And wrote on paper that which troubled me;
But that letter and mouth-slot were a key
And a devouring lock: so my fear then
Made off with its orders and a silent laugh.

Clarence Caddell