Daniel W. Galef


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Eye of the Taiga

Across the Taiga, in each yurt,
one man ruled o’er the plains as lord;
on horse he hammered down the dirt
and climbed the steppes until it hurt,
and led the Mongol Horde.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
stave off ennui; not to be bored,
collected all a chieftain can,
treasure gathered for his clan,
and called the Mongol Hoard.

Beneath the palace he’d unfurl
his money-sheets where they were stored,
with wealth enough for any churl
to buy the favors of a girl,
and see the Mongol, Whored.

Author’s Note—I had about eighty thousand more stanzas of this in my head, which, to my no small surprise and mortification, this margin is too small to contain.

Daniel W. Galef was born and raised at some point in the previous millennium in Oxford, Mississippi, and is currently studying at McGill University in Montreal, where he has been assigned a top secret mission by Stephen Leacock to get his name into all 57 of the campus publications. He writes a lot, but he also does other things sometimes, too. Do not trust him.