MARIONETTE Emptiness is greatest where man was rather than where he was not� Observing the stars, we experience an emptiness which is not theirs. - Miroslav Holub The sun pins the nylon sky, a backdrop Pressed blue behind the raised earth. A pink church melts on the hill like a stick Of rock. The flag on its turret hangs still And starched. Copperplate roofs scorch The valley. Human shadows drain the piazza of light. On a day like this, you crept within snatching distance Of the sun, unpinned it, and watched the sky Drift away like a sheet swept from a balcony line. Beyond the blue, according to local myth, The puppet-master toys with his armoury Of strings. One tweak of his index finger And an ankle snaps, one clean yank And a head rolls Like a football to its pre-ordained net. You floated out among the stars and night For fourteen billion light years, Then returned to the church And the roofs and the shadows, still searching For the emptiness within, but found nothing Other than the rush of wind that now Drags at your sleeve. |
