from The Trembling of the Hand in November
3
When the sun at last shines in November
it shines so powerfully
even the blind are startled
hearing the din of their shadows
4
A good land to die in, this:
a tent on an endless plain,
the tent open to the world’s four corners.
You can’t think further than wind and stars.
16
For God’s sake don’t settle down in a city!
Each city has its graveyard.
Build yourself a wooden house on a flat plateau
and ask your Lord for a nice stroke of lightning.
43
November is truly the month of darkness.
When the sun at last comes out
it’s like a dictator’s smile
when he praises the peacefulness of his country.
44
Beneath the November dark lies the land.
Beneath the land lie the dead.
As the land lies, some of them lack their heads
and in that respect resemble the land’s rulers.
45
This skull was once born of a woman.
But its bearer has shaped it, as it is.
Through the empty eye-holes you can still see
the will that held it upright when the executioner’s sword swung.
51
Him, sitting waiting for death, that’s me.
Him, who can’t believe in death, that’s me.
Him, who has lived up till now, that’s me.
Him, who can’t believe that he has lived, that’s me.
65
My words are fortuitous. Not symbols.
Yet now and then I recognise something
like the outline of a fish drawn on earth
in a Roman army camp in Britain.
Translated by Robin Fulton
Page(s) 108-109
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