I. After a long time
After a long time
there’s nothing he could do
for his efforts were just a low voice
A syllable, like the tide turned once more
He sighed the worst thing—
there was just nothing he could do
The weight of the sea was breathing faster—
The past
The present
Or the future
He said he did not forget things
even though it grew much worse over time
At last he gathered around himself—
Seemingly from an older time
The stories shook him
to remind him
of delights, memory and the dead drifting past him.
II. The sound sometimes at a great distance
The sound, sometimes at a great distance,
Gnashing brought to silence
The icebergs were like teeth hitting one another.
The rich, the happy music in the background
Still fainter refrains, which sounded like carols
They denied their souls
Arms, faces
Ghosts
A few echos,
The planet turned
Gathering itself as if in embarrassment,
And adjusting its jacket and tie
III. Let us remember
Let us remember,
At any given moment,
There could be no one else
You are the second person.
You are not yours.
The words interfered,
For your part, you admitted nothing
Sometimes between
Sleeping and waking
You found nothing missing
And there was no one else but you
You did not
insist on anything
Everything was unsatisfactory and infinite
You did not even look at yourself in the mirror
Your name, a pronoun,
Spoken in the first person,
The words so satisfactory, and also so true.