
Statue of Roland at Metz railway station, France.
I AM ROLAND
I am Roland
or I have become him
created the myth of Mr Keld
opportunity taken
I have procured my host’s mind
now an alien presence
absorbed into this foreign body
diverting thoughts
rebuilding a past
guessing at a further future
a variant stated truth
inhabiting a different reality
masking neutrality
approval seeking
in a subsumed persona
a manufactured myth
ambushed by his muse
Roland of Roncevaux
reconvened
brandishing Durendal
to fight new battles
forever a mask
behind which to hide
a second rate hero
his fable exposed
another fiction
masquerading as truth