In These Silences

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Look, in these silences

which things sink into

and seem on the verge of

opening their closest secret,

you’d expect once in a while

to uncover some mistake

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in nature, the world’s still point,

some weak link, the loose thread

that leads us at last

to the heart of truth. Eyes

rummage in every corner:

the mind seeks agrees argues

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with itself in this perfume

that floats – as day fades –

over everything; a silence

in which, in every dwindling

human shadow, a troubled

divinity could be seen.

Images above by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Top and on front-page mastheads: “Moon Night” Middle: “Snowy Landscape” Bottom: “Schlemihl’s Encounter With The Shadow”

Words above by Eugene Montale, from “The Lemons”

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