Guilty of repeated forgetfulness
words retreated over the cold
words retreated over the cold
ground to endure the ordeal of silence and punishment for having
overflowed their meanings in a language which admits no excesses
They lived in a white silence
hunted inaudible sounds
fished in
hunted inaudible sounds
fished in
the eddies of muddy marshes
their form changed with the light
The evening which smoothed
The evening which smoothed
out angles transformed them into timid objects
Crammed together against the foot of the wall they watched for sleep
which would find a place for them in dreams
the herbalist's sleep was peopled
with aloes
with aloes
hermits made brews of it which they drank with their foreheads
pressed to the earth
[Vénus Khoury-Ghata {1937- } [Guilty of repeated forgetfulness], from She Says, trans. from the French by Marilyn Hacker]
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