San Antonio’s Nightmare (Revised)
San Antonio: ‘The dead are pale, withered, they feed each other, they live in the eyes of the past, bewildered and profound…’
The ascetic sees demons in the form of beasts, and the remains of the Gates of Ctesiphon pile up around him.
Their black cloaks are fastened with the bones of dead men!
They whip each other and laugh at his sore limbs and his burning caresses…
With his hair bound by vipers and the face of: Cain, Sodom and Pilate, Nero looks at Antony, while Judas shouts: “Thanks to me, God saved the world!”
Those faces are made of wolf skin, they envy Antonio’s dog bone meal.
The old ones, older than written time, from the pre-adamic era, are all dry, like mummies-
Their gazes darken; they have long white eyebrows they are eating grasshoppers, and at the same time, while their mouths tremble they exclaim:
‘Come, come, be quick, there are no crimes here, the need here below is the love of God, and He is gone! We are made for the Devil!
Knouphis lights some clay lamps, gives birth to Antonio’s nightmare, more like a vision now-
The light suffocates the long-legged mosquitoes that flutter…
Antonio’s mind is fragmented, his thoughts twisted, the imps are trying to tie him up and tie him down from the turns of the guts!
There is no demonstration, not today, not like other days.
One of the old men snatches the bone from Antonio’s dog.
And the nightmare that had emerged as if through a hole in the wall and formed from a blue mist, dissipates.
And a second vision arises.
The High Priest of Saturn.
Before long, he becomes glowing, as darkness engulfs his hollow eye sockets!
Open your mouth it’s like a deserted well-
His eyebrows are like clumps of bushes!
With a long breath and a gasping pulse:
“How annoying you make me! Hector, I picked up his bones, so that the worms don’t take them away, whether he’s a martyr or a sinner, so I can pick up yours!” He tells San Antonio.
No.: 4774/6-27 and 28-2015
Saint Anthony was born in 250 AD. C., died in 357 d. C., at the age of 107 years. He was from a town in Egypt called Coma, and is noted for his monastic life. He had many trials with the demon world. He lived for many years in a tomb near his hometown. His conflicts were with demons that took the form of bestial forms.
Note: Inspired in part by the writings of Gustave Flaubert and writings attributed to Saint Athanasius.