The drums –

So incessant –

Beat a tattoo

On my tympanum.

The drums,

Keeping time,

Unleashed

A primitive rhythm –

A rhythm

Of life and death –

The heart beat

Of dee dum – dee dum

And the funeral roll 

Of dum – dum – dum –

As a child,

I trembled

To hear the drums.

I clung

To my father,

In silent terror.

The drums beat

Into my heart,

Accelerated it;

Every throb was

Beating like a drum

My heart , 

Now a drum

With  a taut skin,

Beat and beat

Incessantly.

A terror of

Primitive order

Of life and death,

That seeped through

The childish instincts,

Until the drums slowed,

Into gradual stop.

The terror was appeased

And the tremors eased.

The drums –

So incessant –

Beat a tattoo

On my tympanum.

The drums,

Keeping time,

Unleashed

A primitive rhythm –

A rhythm

Of life and death –

The heart beat

Of dee dum – dee dum

And the funeral roll 

Of dum – dum – dum –

As a child,

I trembled

To hear the drums.

I clung

To my father,

In silent terror.

The drums beat

Into my heart,

Accelerated it;

Every throb was

Beating like a drum

My heart , 

Now a drum

With  a taut skin,

Beat and beat

Incessantly.

A terror of

Primitive order

Of life and death,

That seeped through

The childish instincts,

Until the drums slowed,

Into gradual stop.

The terror was appeased

And the tremors eased.