Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Chaim Gouri

IT SEEMS TO ME I’M WATCHING OVER WALLS

It seems to me I’m watching over walls
of a city long dead.

Lights shining on me now
are legacies of a light gone out long ago.

I walk among the things that time has left.
And they live without time slowly crumbling in the clocks.

They come back to me, come back to live more slowly.
Alongside ashtrays,
alongside cups of coffee growing cold.

I walk a lot and speculate
and benefit from the doubt

but I’m watching over walls of a city long dead.

IT SEEMS TO ME I’M WATCHING OVER WALLS

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IT SEEMS TO ME I’M WATCHING OVER WALLS

It seems to me I’m watching over walls
of a city long dead.

Lights shining on me now
are legacies of a light gone out long ago.

I walk among the things that time has left.
And they live without time slowly crumbling in the clocks.

They come back to me, come back to live more slowly.
Alongside ashtrays,
alongside cups of coffee growing cold.

I walk a lot and speculate
and benefit from the doubt

but I’m watching over walls of a city long dead.

IT SEEMS TO ME I’M WATCHING OVER WALLS

It seems to me I’m watching over walls
of a city long dead.

Lights shining on me now
are legacies of a light gone out long ago.

I walk among the things that time has left.
And they live without time slowly crumbling in the clocks.

They come back to me, come back to live more slowly.
Alongside ashtrays,
alongside cups of coffee growing cold.

I walk a lot and speculate
and benefit from the doubt

but I’m watching over walls of a city long dead.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère