The New Order
The minotaur is captive in the poem’s labyrinth.
The beast feeding on sacrificial human flesh
Will only forsake the trap when the poet’s torments
Subside like the ill wind that sinks the pirate ships.
Until then, it must dwindle within the maze,
Trying to figure the way out. The king believes
Human sacrifice protects the harbor and his ships,
Yet he cannot bid the minotaur’s savagery
Nor the poet’s life-force that sustains the poem.
Like the ingenious Ariadne, the poet unravels
The thread leading out of the labyrinth to save
Regal Theseus who slays the wild beast.
The sonnet’s turn points to an order of courage
Distorting the price of human sacrifice.