Legend reborn

Erupting from the sands

and scrub, friend of scorpions

and snakes, it bleats

an incessant murmur of muted

mechanization, pulsing,

feeding on electrons streamed

live and in color, coming

to a theater near you as soon

as it finishes its Broadway run

A temple, a pyramid, a ziggurat

of sacrificed doom, exerting

an incessant magnetism,

Osiris steps into his coffin

once again, confident he knows

better, this time. Isis waits,

knowing this time she becomes

the goddess of the underworld,

the sword of the caliphate,

living the nightmare

she creates

Painting: Osiris and Isis, oil and acrylic emulsion by Anselm Kiefer (1985-1987); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The painting was included in the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition "Anselm Kiefer" in London, which was shown Sept. 27 to Dec. 14, 2014.