Lascaux

by Edwin Fagel

Translated from the Dutch by Claudette Sherlock

de profundis

now it’s there
now it’s dark 
and now the dark  
turns a deeper dark  

deeper than this 
the dark does not 
turn

now come
so deep 
to union
so deep
in your barren womb
the seed is planted
from which

the light
is born

she light dreamer
dreamed light
breathing out the light 
in the dark
your silence
in the murmuring

you say you
don't know me you say
you don't know me
you say you don't know 
me

and then shall
from you
the light

 

imitation of an imitation

for the water lilies
imitate 
the welkin the
water lilies the
willow trees 
imitate
the 
willow trees stringing 
from the water 

the leaves on the poplar trees
imitate the imitation of
the leaves on the poplar trees

longing you say 
is 
the longing to be
a longing for 
the longing
before the longing
opened the longing 
to be 
the other 
a longing for
what the other
is longing for

is an imitation 
of an imitation of 
what it is 
wishes
& wishes to be 

and so the red of the rose is as red
as the setting sun

as if the rose is the sun is the rose

 

dissolve

in the mirror I saw  
my torso transparent
the intestines the liver the spleen 
creation must be
seized 
eaten 
excreted
erased

my face/my face 
turned red I said 

I will do anything
to dissolve the divide between me 
& the monster that is like me 
is pure & all-seeing 

yet I did no more than that 
I looked at myself 
till it lit somewhere
I heard something had some vague thoughts of something 
to eat of my bank balance of sex & of that god-
send that I hoped was sleep

 

chaser

I dream
that I
dream
that I’m breathing

the moon is between the sun and the earth

a tea light burns
near the mirror
& in the mirror burns
your body

& if I for instance 
& if I for instance follow 
your image for instance 
stand facing you & catch you
for instance 

in the mirror you gasp
in the dark I gaze
into black eyes
in the mirror 
I grasp you

you stand and wash
I spy on you 
I stand on hooves
amongst the dogs

the moon compares
as an uneven triangle
to the earth 

is dark

& the sun
& the sun 

burns

 

bacchante

waiting at the stoplight
the top of Your saddle
pokes Your left buttock

when You recognise me
You move Your body
as if asking me a question
You seem to be in thoughts 
elsewhere
dancing

with the ghosts of the fathers
of the fathers of the fathers

there 
following 
Your horned shadow 
with a torch in my hand

I run through the corridors
trying to catch You

but Your eyes are black
& Your blood & Your skin
are black & black
is Your tongue
& black Your teeth

 

confession

that I speak to You means
must mean
that I believe in You 
believe that I believe
that I eh

Your eyes I know
I say I
know Your smile 

I shout & scream 
across the even plain
I see Your 
birthing burst
in light You have 
given me 
the light my body 
given me 
my veins my breath 
professed me blessed

You wondrous You see Your me?

now I am open
now I am open
now I am wide open

come

 

shaft

on black walls You arise
on black walls You arise

on human feet
on human feet

we have been as one 
we have 

all 
along

since it started
since we started
since we 
started 

in the deep shaft
in the black soil

started to
to find one another

all along

we have been lying down facing one another
all along lying down

making one another
making one another die

I
I see You
I see You come to be human

You
You see me
You see me come to be human

 

queen

You lie tied & blindfolded
& all the men are chanting 

sanctus sanctus

they all share the same name
& all walk as I do

chanting by Your bedside 
& they all chant sanctus 

I stab my knife
I stab my knife in the skin of Your side

(a finger in the wound) 

then all the men pounce
on Your shivering body singing
and tear open Your flesh

Your lips rest
in a blissful smile

we sing sanctus
& we are fulfilled 
& we are contented

 

landscape with ladder & dog

a dog 
starts 
wagging its tail
in the space it is in

& the tree trunk near the dog
is a ladder

burning clouds
burning at the ends
are drifting past as a
fast paced film

the sloping
smiling
he bared open
grasslands 
in the furrows of the plough
shiver & She

She is in truth
the crucified one

Kate Tsurkan