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A Man in Sarajevo Speaks Before Dying
Let the light out
I am dying
I am dying
Let the light out
Let it speed down the avenue
Past the birch trees and the children on
The corner huddled against
Grief
Past the mosque of blue and gold
Past a window with green borders where
A face once gleamed in
Loveliness and love
Let the light turn into the alley where
The corner café once held a compass to the
Known world
Let the light slip between the thin
Cats, the infants in their young mothers'
Arms, sucking blood
From their breasts
Grandmother in her parlor afraid of the
Evening and the news it will bring
Let it slip by where the fathers and sons
Would have been
Let it leap across the river
Let it climb up that mountain
I am dying
Let the light out
Let it climb there among the pines,
The wild flowers and the rocks,
Trails once trod by shepherds and
Their flocks, now cut by boots
The bramble, the berry bush hacked for a
View you would kill for
Of the city in the light
Let the light step before the gunners
The brave Chirstian warriors behind
Their steel
Let the light throw a mirror before
Their eyes
Let the light in the mirror show them a
Face like their own
Unshaven, desire still flickering
In his eyes
A man of familiar flesh
Let them see how this face
Fades as will their own
Let the light out
Quickly
Quickly
I am dying
*Also published in The World 52, 1996.
Copyright © 2007 Carayan Press. All rights reserved. Todos los derechos reservados.
