A Visionary 2

At first
I was looking out of a small window
at half past four
a dog ran past
a cold fury chasing it

(Where did the dog come from,
that skinny dog?
Where did he run off to,
the dog of our times?)
(What blackness is chasing you?
What desire is urging you to run?)

At two o’clock
a pear tree was ripped apart
ants went past dragging a fellow ant’s carcass

(So far
what our eyes have seen
always began at its end)
(When we were born
we had long been dead
By the time we hear a scream
only silence remains)

At half past one
a single black bird fell
from an extreme height

(Whose yard is this?
This forsaken yard, so desolate
in the autumn light
Whose is it?)
(You, who are at an extreme height
like a bird looking for prey,
tell me whose yard this is.)

At twelve
with the gaze of one looking into the distance
I looked over the yard

A VISIONARY 2