Intimate Stranger

FRÈRE KHÈRE¹

exile

memories terribly leaked away

(Sappho)

will you stay with me as far as I go

brother stone still throb with the stillness

of a spoilt moon rotting and rending

the sea of stars

era la negra

negra solitud de las islas

there was

the black aloneness of islands the hard

cold hour deserted like the wharves at dawn

when cold stars and whales heave up

black

birds migrate as free goddesses leaving port

y solo la sombra trémula se retuerce en mis manos

(and only the tremulous shadows twist in my hands)

what were you before I found you

Neruda what

who was I before you made

yourself known and how will I know you

brother stone petrified eye of time

fearless and lidless or tongue

and if so what word was stilled

as vowel of eternal becoming

qué dolor no exprimiste qué olas no te ahogaron

say

what sorrows did you not express

what waves did not drown you

say

I was told

that with you to put on top of the head

I would stop growing to darkness and wings

because you would be my moon mind made visible

to trace and confine the shadowy earth

I was told

that with you as word in the mouth

I would never again tire of flying

in place

as tiredness itself would be pronounced

a grave pebble under the tongue

and when

and then

and now

es la hora de partir oh abandonado

when it will be the hour of departure

will you stay my hand

brother

stone

be the marker of my absence