To My Friend in Rome

The Dioskouroi. Was it those dangerous twins

Who had come knocking at the door to warn you

To leave the building

At once, immediately

Before an earthquake struck?

 

It was also an earthquake, you see,

During the middle of that night while

We enjoyed the gifts

Of our wealthy host,

Which had made us become invisible.

 

Epiphanies are out of place these days

Even for a man studying metaphysics,

But I happen to know,

You once wrote a tale,

Which included a visitation by an angel,

 

And I have been struggling with invisibility too,

Trying to close that crack in the door again,

Since the news broke

Of her terrible illness,

Unable to find words to say to the two standing there.

 

So it is possible, one of us goes back afterwards

To identify the bodies of all the guests

Because he can recall

The order of us all sat

Around the table, to make us live again.

 

mmj


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