Take stock. Cast your gaze in all directions:

nothing except silence. In the distance, a hovel

for the mouth to inhabit. An owl’s call portends

strange sights. Tracing out a novel shape

amid the morning’s gray stillness. The eye picks out

rogue points of light. Jarring again and again

the shutters that overhang this enterprise,

mouthing stray and skittish phonemes. Lower

yourself into the shape of a cavern, uncertain.

As in Dante, sprawling towards descent: you spill

onwards past that still point, mirroring the fall.

 

Onwards past that still point, mirroring the fall

as in Dante. Sprawling towards descent, you spill

yourself into the shape of a cavern, uncertain,

mouthing stray and skittish phonemes. Lower

the shutters that overhang this enterprise.

Rogue points of light jarring again and again

amid the morning’s gray stillness. The eye picks out

strange sights, tracing out a novel shape

for the mouth to inhabit. An owl’s call portends

nothing except silence. In the distance: a hovel.

Take stock. Cast your gaze in all directions.

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