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Frank Kuppner

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Getting Out Of The Rain

(Two Albanian Folksongs)

i.

What is happening in the lane beyond the gate?
In the garden, a woman wearing crinoline
Is standing on a long straight path, possibly beautiful.
Uniform rows of low plants grow on all sides.

Far off beyond her is a closed iron gate.
A small road passes by it - discreet but actual.
For a full minute, I gaze at the old, framed photograph.
Dust rises on a million unknown Chinese streets.

ii

I step into the echoing main hall of the museum,
As the voices of a large party of school children
Splash and fade from the walls. A secluded stairway
Takes me to the sought, modestly lit exhibition

Of old Scottish photographs. Starting from the sinister
Dead eyes of a beautiful girl, I proceed
Step by step through many days of our past,
Through people moving in the opposite direction,

Until, near a particularly shadowy corner.
I find a picture of 40 or so smiling faces,
With the caption: Unknown Children. Photographer Unknown.
1860’s.’ I look at face after face,

Examining how much sunlight falls on each of them,
Comparing smiles, imagining unseen adults.
Here it is quieter than elsewhere in the building.
Another afternoon will soon have passed by.

Page(s) 45

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