My Burnoose

Into this world they tell me I was sent Wrapt in a burnoose, which was rudely rent And flung away, by her who first didst touch My steaming flesh; I never loved her much, The surly, stolid, sordid, spectral hag: For never would my star of fortune lag— No dwarf of earth to oppose my will would dare— If my sebaceous burnoose she did spare, And if around my neck, the ajouz says, It hung, locked in a charm, for twenty days. But ever since the amulet was torn, The curse of gods and djinn and men I’ve worn; And to my flesh it stuck—a Nessus shirt— Despite the oozing blood, and not spurt Of power, alas! is left me to control The stinging tongue of an avenging soul.