THE ANNUNCIATION OF ALEXANDER [click for audio]

Based on an anecdote related by Plutarch

Olympias sleeps in Macedon,
And on the flaming cathode of her womb
The gods will bounce and shatter brittle gold
Into the corners of her days.

No tapestry is hung that will not flame
And from its phoenix ashes raise again
Within the splendor of a boy
The icon of a father's bitter loins.

Walter Rufus Eagles 1977