From ‘Miro's Constellations’
by Pansy Maurer-Alvarez
[ poetry - may 05 ]
Nocturne
2 November 1940
I have but one sleep in this sleepless night
It stretches in front of me like a dark
Red path, skirting the dip in the road, wind-
ing around the house behind which I saw
Two boys fighting one night, with seriousness
In torn white T-shirts
Their presence persists in the blur of my
Weltanschauung and cries beyond the seam
Of this continent: don't leave me lying
On the grass, don't leave me for last, unless
You are sleepless and raw in the grasp of
Cold militant stone
I have one sleep when out of my window
Pale light descends across the lawn like search-
lights, spotlights, floodlights picking out movement
Near walls they tried climbing, dynamiting -
These boys with blood now dry in their voices
Blackness under ribs
