Advice To A Young Prophet Poem by John Thorkild Ellison

Eat not of the green bananas of tribulation
Nor harken unto the paranoid insinuations of moonlit potatoes,
But let thy mind rest rather on the white nightingales of Aberystwyth
And the fair promontories that lie hidden in Elfland.

Listen, I pray, to the sad songs of tuneful policemen
As they gather wild turnips from the fields of Arabia,
And remember that you too were born for a reason
And the altars within thee know not of desecration.

Do not fluff up the feathers of thy breast
Nor believe in thy pride that thou art worth more than a penny:
Blood runs in the rivers of Jerusalem
And a dark horror has smothered the tears of immortality.