Repetitions, Series III

Our Life in Phares

After all the misfortunes we became very superstitious.

We pay attention to the shadows of birds and leaves

we hear unheard off sounds, we step back,

late in the dusk, on tiptoes, we enter the temple

we burn incense on the altar, we fill the lamps with oil,

we place our bronze coin offering on the altar

we near the god’s ear and whispering we ask: “when?”,

“from where?” “with what?” And then we seal our ears

shut and leave. When we reach out to the marketplace,

we unseal our ears at once — the first word we hear

is the answer of the god. That word is never the one

we wished to hear, perhaps we misheard. Then again

we restart the same tedious process — the temple,

the candles, our bronze coin offering and the marketplace

up to the hour that the stores close, they turn off

the lamps, and we, alone in the street, walk along

the walls, perusing that word letter by letter, reversing

the syllables, without ever reaching that which we prefer.

Thus, as you say, we spend our lives now in Phares

between the deserted marketplace and the inauspicious

oracles.

https://www.lulu.com/account/projects/w454dzp?page=1&pageSize=10