Hear me—

From this abyss,

From this vast emptiness,

From my nothingness,

Hear me—

From balconies, from hillsides, from mountaintops,

I shout to you,

When the world has closed their eyes

And locked their lips

And drowned their minds and bodies in liquid darkness,

I shout to you

My name—

It is yours;

I give it to you for it is only a word—

A word.

I have better words to use for myself

If only you would

Hear me—

My voice is hoarse, my tongue is coarse,

My lips—I can feel their numbness—

The words are pouring out

Like light pours out onto the

Cold Earth at

Daybreak.

They surge—

Rapids are they—

White with froth,

Feared by the stones that speckle the land,

By the dry, infertile soil,

By the sands, by the grass,

By the ancient regal oak trees on the banks—

By me and you.

But you’ve brought the gate up.

The walls are rising ever taller

Above the mountaintops.

I see you,

And I know you see me—

Through your clear eyelids

I know you see me.

I stand by you

Where I have dropped my name—

A sad, limp creature

Under your feet—

And I shout into the abyss—

Hear me!